Children of Lieutenant Schmidt coming to Belarus

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has met with two British lords - Cecil Edward Parkinson and Timothy Bell.

The British businessmen said at the meeting they were ready to develop political and economic relations with Belarus and invest in the economy of the country. Alyaksandr Lukashenka was repeating constantly the Belarus-EU relations would soon improve, our country had no problems with the EU, and chose not to mention EU 12 offers to the official authorities, the main of them being release of political prisoners.

“Perspectives for our relations with the European Union do not lie exclusively in the Europe-Belarus sphere. They will depend on whether the European Union’s foreign policy is independent of the USA,” Lukashenka said at the meeting with Cecil Parkinson, member of the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

“I think, you will be happy to work in our country, with the authorities, which are so unpopular, maybe less in Europe, and more in the US,” Lukashenka said, meeting with Timothy Bell, member of the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Chairman of the Chime Communications. According to him, “before you become a supporter of our country and our people, we need to assure you that Belarus is a European country.”

The lords made odd statements in response. For instance, Timothy Bell spoke about Internet:

“I looked through many Internet resources with the information of our country and saw many double-faced and hypocritical comments. It should be mended,” T. Bell said.

The information has appeared that the British businessman is going to burnish the image of the Belarusian regime, titled “the last dictatorship in Europe” for repressions against the opposition and political prisoners.

The Charter’97 press center asked Andrei Sannikov, former minister of foreign affairs of Belarus, international coordinator of Charter’97, member of the civil campaign “European Belarus,” to comment on visits and statements of the British businessmen:

“The Belarusian economy is likely to be in very difficult conditions, if the authorities receive visits from children of Lieutenant Schmidt at the highest level. Instead of accepting proposals of the US and the EU on clear and precisely formulated conditions, guaranteeing Belarus’ move to a new level, the authorities begin to invite strange dealers praising the present system. It’s clear, they don’t render disinterested aid, and common people will most likely to pay for their doubtful services. We have already seen that allegedly big businessmen from different countries appear from time to time, negotiations on “biggest” projects are carried out, but it turns into ordinary trickery,” Sannikov said.

PS: Characters of The Little Golden Calf novel by Ilf and Petrov named themselves Children of Lieutenant Schmidt. Lieutenant Schmidt is a hero of the Russian Civil War. Pretending the children of Lieutenant Schmidt, con men got cash from the population.