Vital Rymasheuski: “Catholic spy” is used to blackmail Vatican

Lukashenka presses on the Catholic Church seeking concessions from the West.

Vital Rymasheuski, a co-head of the organising committee to create the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, spoke to charter97.org about the arrest of a “Catholic spy”.

“Lukashenka said several times that he regards the Catholic Church as a tool to influence the West. The scheme is simple. For example, pressure was applied on the Polish ethnic group in Belarus to later soften the repression and present it as a thaw following the pragmatic trade. I think the same scheme is being used now,” the politician says.

He underlines that the Belarusian ruler first needs to press on the Catholics before making concessions.

“I am convinced that the Belarusian regime can and will use the 'Catholic spy' to blackmail Vatican that lobbies Lukashenka's interests in the West. The other matter that Belarus's numerous security services are trying to demonstrate Lukashenka their utility after the Andrei Haidukou case. They have no professional skills. They create spies from nothing. We had an opportunity to see it during the 'spy case'. Taking into account the professional skills of our security services, the Catholic spy will probably be followed by a Martian one,” the BCD co-chair said.

He doesn't rule out the opportunity that the remark about the arrest of the “Catholic spy” may be a curtsey to Russia ahead of 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus.

“I wouldn't say it is a curtsy to the whole Russian Orthodox Church, but Putin's regime conencts its foreign policy to influencing the church, and the ideology of Russian chauvinism is to a large extent based on the Orthodox Church. Though we have the Belarusian Exarchate, not the autonomous Orthodox church, it serves to the people of Belarus first of all. It's important to understand it. We mustn't use a one-size-fits-all approach. Don't not regard the church as an enemy,” Vital Rymasheuski said.

The Belarusian dictator said today about the arrest of a security service officer who worked for foreign states through representatives of the Catholic Church.