Svetlana Kalinkina: Lukashenka should get a sparring partner :: Charter'97 :: News

A well-known Belarusian journalist Svyatlana Kalinkina has commented the address of the united democratic forces leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich to Alyaksandr Lukashenka with an appeal to start a dialogue with the Belarusian opposition, and consequently improve relations with the West. As said by Kalinkina, more and more often voices in Brussels are heard that say that it would be not expedient to forgive Lukashenka’s sins only because his relations with Moscow had deteriorated. “A very simple move could stop the machine of negotiations which is running at idling speed now. Lukashenka should get a sparring partner. And Alyaksandr Milinkevich has appeared as one. In case Alyaksandr Milinkevich would articulate his idea more precisely, he simply wouldn’t leave chances for Lukashenka to fool European officials”, the journalist believes.

Unlike the proposal of Social Democrat Uladzimir Nistyuk, which once was a sensation as well, Milinkevich does not position talks as a sufficient criterion for the regime’s negotiation. But the main condition, that political reforms and an internal dialogue should go before the external one, hasn’t been formulated yet, Kalinkina underlines.

“In theory one could imagine under what terms Lukashenka could imitate a dialogue with Europe. But the opposition is the weakest link in the scenario of the official Minsk’s “European game”. The state propaganda is zealously working to dismiss any thought that Lukashenka is making courtesies to Europe under pressure of his political opponents,” Svyatlana Kalinkina said.

“That is why nothing has been said about the PACE head Rene van der Linden’s meeting not only with officials but with the oppositional parties leaders as well. Not half a word has been uttered about the fact that Reuters agency had interviewed Alyaksandr Milinkevich, not only Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The information is arranged in such a way as if the European countries have suddenly realized Lukashenka’s importance, and not that Minsk started to appeal for sympathy from the West. In this context nothing could be worse to the Belarusian leader than Milinkevich’s assistance and his helping hand extended to Lukashenka. That is why for several days the state propaganda has no clue about how to react. It keeps silent,” the reporter notes.