Natallia Radzina: Many More People Could Have Been Released Today

If only the Americans had pushed a little harder.

Belarusians expected the American negotiators to take a tougher stance in their talks with the utterly brazen dictator. This was stated by Natallia Radzina, editor-in-chief of the website Charter97.org, commenting on Facebook the release of prisoners of the Lukashenko regime.

“I am sincerely glad that another 25 political prisoners have been released, " she writes. "Every human life is priceless. But still, let’s take a look at what the dictator demanded in return?" The U.S. is lifting sanctions on two Belarusian companies—the “Lakokraska” plant and the “Bellesbumprom” concern—and is promising to help unfreeze more than $40 million that has been stuck at Citibank in the U.S. due to sanctions. Meanwhile, trade in Belarusian potash with the U.S. has already resumed.

In March of this year, as a reminder, 250 political prisoners were released in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against two state-owned banks, the Ministry of Finance, and Belarusian potash producers.

At the same time, Lukashenko yesterday explicitly told U.S. Special Envoy John Cole that he has no intention of ending the repression: he denies the existence of political prisoners and, in essence, promises that people will continue to be persecuted for political reasons.

It’s obvious that the U.S. authorities are preparing for the midterm congressional elections and that any success is important to them right now, but I still expected the American negotiators to show more firmness in their talks with this utterly brazen little dictator. “Many more people could have been released today if they had applied even a little more pressure.”

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