Lukashenko to meet Putin amid showdown with EU
Belarus' authoritarian leader left for Russia Friday to seek assistance amid a bruising showdown with the European Union over the diversion of a flight to arrest dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich.
Belarus Prez Alexander Lukashenko (L) is set to meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin at his Black Sea residence in Sochi for talks on closer economic ties, according to the Kremlin. The EU bloc's foreign ministers agreed Thursday to ramp up sanctions to target the country's lucrative potash industry and other sectors of the Belarusian economy that are the main cash-earners for Lukashenko's government.
Lukashenko, who has relentlessly stifled dissent during his rule of more than a quarter-century, defended his actions and lashed out at the West for trying to "strangle" his country with sanctions. He said Friday before departing to Moscow that he hopes to reach an agreement with Putin on restoring the air link between Russia and Belarus that has been suspended because of the C-19 pandemic.
The 66-year-old Belarusian ruler has faced months of protests following his reelection to a 6th term in an August 2020 vote that the opposition rejected as rigged. He responded with a wide-ranging crackdown, with more than 35,000 people arrested since the protests began and thousands beaten. The West has responded by slapping sanctions on Belarus officials involved in the vote-rigging and repressions against protesters.
Amid Western pressure, Lukashenko has relied on political and financial support from his main ally, Russia.
The two ex-Soviet nations have a union agreement envisaging close economic, political and military ties, and Moscow has helped buttress Belarus' Soviet-style economy with cheap energy supplies and loans. The ties, however, often have been strained with Lukashenko scolding Moscow for trying to force him to relinquish control over prized economic assets and eventually abandon Belarus' independence.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed the belief that Russia was involved in the Ryanair plane diversion to Belarus, citing close relations between Moscow and Minsk as evidence. The alliance condemned the forced diversion of the Ryanair flight and the subsequent arrest of the latter.