Arkady Moshes, Program Director of the Foreign Policy Institute, says that the autocratic president of Belarus is trying to warm up his frozen relations with the West.
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus.
- The expert believes that Lukashenko wants to warm his relations with the West.
- Although Russia is covering the consequences of the sanctions policy for Minsk, the reasons for the hopes of rapprochement are partly also economic.
- Recently, however, there have been noticeable contradictions in the president’s statements.
The autocratic president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko commented in connection with the meeting of the BRICS countries held this week that if an attempt were made to annex Belarus into Russia, a war would break out.
Program director specializing in Russia, Belarus and the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood at the Institute for Foreign Policy Arkady Moshes believes that Lukashenko’s statements have foreign policy significance.
– He (Lukašenka) wants to rebuild his relationship with the West, Moshes says.
According to the expert, the strong dependence of Belarus on Russia is the underlying factor. This limits Lukashenko’s own actions. Although, according to the expert, Russia covers the costs incurred by Belarus from the sanctions policy, the reasons behind the rapprochement attempts are also economic.
– He has said many things in the last few days that show that he wants to start a dialogue with the West, Moshes continues.
Lukashenko has also started his preparations for the presidential elections to be held at the end of January. According to Moshes, Lukashenko is aiming to get at least some kind of justification from the West for his re-election. This has also been supported by the releases of political prisoners in the past months.
Is the president’s health failing?
– The second reason is more of a conspiracy theory, but be that as it may, I have to start thinking that there might be something wrong with his health, says Moshes.
Moshes considers, for example, Lukashenko’s statement a couple of days ago to be special, in which he announced that he would run for the presidential election. Later, however, Lukashenko’s press secretary hastened to say that it was not yet certain that he would go on the campaign trail.
According to the expert, there are strange contradictions in Lukashenko’s output. Another example dates back to August, when Ukraine celebrated its independence day.
– Lukashenko wished them (Ukrainians) “peaceful skies”. You have to be quite sadistic to say that to a country that is being bombed from your country, or you might not understand what you are saying, Moshes states.
The expert suspects that behind Lukashenko’s contradictory statements may be, for example, the strong medication required by some illness.
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