Financial Times: Lukashenka's Paranoia Grows

The US and the UK should impose sectoral sanctions against Minsk.

The situation around the Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is an event that is easier to imagine at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 than at the 2021 Olympics. A few hours after Tsimanouskaya received "asylum" in Poland, the Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov was found dead in a Kyiv park, and the police do not rule out the version of the murder.

This week's events, after the Belarusian dictator forcibly landed a Ryanair plane in May to capture an opposition activist, underscore how Aliaksandr Lukashenka is turning Belarus into an international outlaw, the Financial Times Mirror of the Week. Ukraine quoted.

The situation with Tsimanouskaya has its roots in Soviet times. The 24-year-old athlete complained on social networks that the coaches “found” a relay for her, for which she did not prepare, since other Belarusian athletes did not pass enough doping tests to participate in the competition (circumstances that require investigation).

After team leaders tried to send her home due to what they called “emotional, psychological state,” Tsimanouskaya was defended by the Tokyo police, and Warsaw offered a humanitarian visa.

The situation raises thoughts of dictatorial regimes: the head of the Olympic Committee of Belarus is Viktar Lukashenka, the son of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. At one time, Saddam Hussein's son Udey headed the Olympic and football associations in Iraq.

The International Olympic Committee has banned Lukashenka from coming to Tokyo after Belarusian athletes accused the authorities of political discrimination. Belarusian athletes participated in protests that erupted after Lukashenka announced his "victory" in the elections a year ago.

Since then, about 35 thousand Belarusians have been arrested. Many young people leave Belarus. Vitaly Shishov headed the Belarusian House in Ukraine, which helps emigrants escape from persecution. His friends said that Shishov was being followed.

Activist Raman Pratasevich also talked about surveillance before boarding a flight from Greece to Lithuania, but the plane was forcibly landed in Minsk.

The suppression of the opposition testifies to Lukashenka's paranoia growing.

Western countries are no longer willing to tolerate his mistreatment of his own people and violations of the law, both at home and abroad.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, considered by many Belarusians to be the real winner of last year's elections, called on Washington and London to strengthen sanctions against the Lukashenka regime.

The West must heed these calls. The EU has gone further than the US and the UK, imposing sanctions not only against individuals but also industry measures banning the import of Belarusian oil products and potash - the country's most lucrative export.

But several loopholes need to be addressed that constrain industry sanctions. Just as the West has already done after Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and UK should impose sectoral sanctions against Belarus.

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Belarusian regime looks like a historical anomaly. The Belarusians deserve the solidarity of the West so that Lukashenka’s regime finally listens to the message that voters sent him a year ago, the newspaper concludes.