Statkevich: West shouldn’t rush when lifting sanctions against Belarus

The leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) Mikalay Statkevich has stated that at present organizing a dialogue with the West is beneficial only for the Belarusian regime.

However the oppositional politician believes that the European Union should not rush to lift economic and political sanctions against Belarus.

“It won’t bring pluses for the country, as this seemingly political thaw won’t affect the sphere of economy. As business won’t come here on the command of the West… and it is beneficial for our regime, as they would play this card in order to sponge from Russia as much as possible. And that’s all,” Mikola Statkevich said in an interview to Radio Svaboda, Telegraph informs.

To his mind, “after the “elections” Belarus hasn’t changed, except for release of political prisoners.” “But as easy as they have been released, they can be imprisoned. The court system hasn’t changed, and laws are still written by one person here. And the way the “election” has taken place shows eloquently that the situation hasn’t changed. The main changes are at the level of words,” the oppositional politician underlined.

“I think that the West shouldn’t rush. And if it is said that its policy has been ineffective so far, I am saying that it was effective. And it means that there is moral, there is truth… there are ideals, truth, freedom. If the West would start bargaining all that, I cannot say this would make me change my believes. But it would be a blow on our ideals,” he said.

“Everything would be decided here yet. The country should become mature, but that shouldn’t be interfered, it should be helped. And this unnecessary bustle would help Lukashenka to stay longer, to sponge more from Russia, that’s all. He understands perfectly well that the West won’t give as much as Russia: 14 billion of donations for energy resources only this year, and without any demands of democracy. And when the West demands democracy, Lukashenka views that as if they demand his death,” believes the leader of the BSDP (NG).