Russia backs unpopular regime in Belarus
MOSCOW/MINSK – Russia threw its weight behind ex-soviet ally Belarus on Friday, urging the United States and the European Union not to introduce new economic sanctions against Minsk over human rights concerns.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke out in a joint statement with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.
In power in the nation of 10 million since 1994, Lukashenko has tolerated little dissent, cracking down on public protests and jailing opposition leaders. His conduct has alienated the West and helped ensure Belarus remains in Moscow’s orbit.
After his re-election in 2010, Washington and Brussels imposed travel bans on Lukashenko and his senior officials as well as asset freezes against companies they said were associated with them.
The EU is now considering new sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes on up to 30 individuals in Belarus.
The joint statement said: “The presidents of Russia and Belarus reiterate that the use of measures of economic pressure or coercion are unacceptable in international relations.
“Such measures create artificial barriers to trade. This will have a negative effect primarily on ordinary citizens.”
EU foreign ministers are planning to announce a decision on sanctions at a meeting in Brussels next week. But opposition from Slovenia threatens to derail the plan, diplomats told Reuters.
Western observers said the 2010 election was fraudulent. Two candidates who ran against Lukashenko, Andrei Sannikov and Nikolai Statkevich, are now in jail.
Lukashenko this week compared Western sanctions to Nazi aggression during the Second World War and said Minsk would react “very roughly” to new measures, but gave no details.
Belarus is Russia’s closest ally in the former Soviet Union, despite perennial disputes over natural gas supplies and transit. Russian politicians see it as a buffer between their country and NATO.
Russia and Belarus agreed in the 1990s to establish a “union state” but it has largely remained on paper.
Moscow has repeatedly said it believes sanctions rarely work. It has frequently criticized Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, saying nations should not go beyond measures approved by the U.N. Security Council, where Russia has veto power. It is also opposing tougher sanctions on the government of Syria’s President Bashar Assad.