NATO Will Not Reach Out to Belarus

Материал также доступен на русском языке: Ошибки Запада. Что Брюссель и Вашингтон делают не так в ситуации с Беларусью.

The EU took three good steps vis-à-vis Belarus by refusing to recognize the results of the presidential elections, sanctioning Belarussian officials and releasing more than 50 million euros of aid to people of Belarus. However, these sanctions are not enough. They are good but they are somewhat insufficient. I was disappointed that Lithuania’s and Poland’s request for the EU statement calling for new elections in Belarus did not meet with approval of other members. What’s more democratic than free and fair elections? I think that sanctions against individuals in Belarus are are also appropriate but also not insufficient. The EU should say very clear that it is unacceptable for the Kremlin to intervene in Belarus. It would have been inappropriate though to recognize Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as the new president. The EU simply does not have the ballots to show that this is the case. I can easily believe the elections were rigged and Lukashenko did not get 80 per cent of the vote. But we do not have evidence that she won, only speculation. That is why I think it would be better to have a re-run of the presidential elections in Belarus with proper international observation mechanisms.

I am also disappointed if, as Belorussian opposition said, the US government took a decisionto to refrain from sending an ambassador to Minsk. The US mission in Belarus is without ambassador for 12 years now. I understand the motive of isolating Lukashenko diplomatically which both Republican and Democratic administrations cited but the decision to send an ambassador taken just before Belarus elections was to me the right one. And now with the political crisis developing it is very important to have an official US presence and voice in Minsk. Sending an ambassador is not equivalent to recognising what the Lukashenko regime does to its own people.

Western diplomatic presence in Belarus is additionally important because Lukashenko talks all the time about the so called «NATO threat» to Belarus. He that claims NATO forces are concentrated on the Lithuanian border. This is simply not true – there is nothing but normal activity there. The narrative that there is an alliance build-up threatening Belarus is totally false.