{"id":11384,"date":"2022-03-26T13:47:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-26T10:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-establishes-anti-belarusian-regime\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-establishes-anti-belarusian-regime","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11384\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka\u0161enka establishes anti-Belarusian regime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka government has banned any public celebrations of Freedom Day, March 25, and white-red-white flags associated by Belarusians with their country short-lived independence in 1918. Just four years ago, public celebrations of Freedom Day were still possible. The regime pursues an anti-Belarusian policy.\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Hopes for evolution have not come true<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Minsk flirted with the West for several years before August 2020 after Luka\u0161enka had refused in 2014 to recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia and went on to exercise a degree independence from Moscow\u2019s hostile policy toward Ukraine. At the time, Minsk billed itself as a peace broker and a donor of stability in the region.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The media noted a shift in the government\u2019s policy at the time toward soft Belarusianization. Authorities allowed Belarusian-language cultural initiatives to crop up and grow, establish horizontal ties and cultivate a sense of national identity. That cultural spirit was the driving force of mass protests against alleged vote rigging in the 2020 presidential election. Authorities have failed so far to destroy the horizontal ties.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Before 2020, authorities made a cautious attempt to assert Belarusian national identity as an essential mechanism of resistance to Russian expansion, although officials feared that that cultural initiatives might drive public and political activism.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The several years of a relative political thaw were enough for society to outgrow the backward regime. The evolution was also propelled by economic factors such as the formation of the middle class, small business expansion and an IT sector boom.\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Total dependence on Moscow after August 2020<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Before 2020, some observers had an illusion that the regime could evolve to catch up with society, that Luka\u0161enka might eventually relax his regime and that reformers could take the upper hand in the government.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In 2020, the forward-looking part of society moved to challenge peacefully the old system, which acted as a handbrake on the nation\u2019s development.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t However, the Belarusian ruler used brutal force to break up peaceful demonstrations as he desperately held on to power. Vladimir Putin stood by Luka\u0161enka after his disputed re-election, helping him survive the scare.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In 2020 Luka\u0161enka crossed the red line of dependence on Moscow to save his skin. His future is now completely in Moscow\u2019s hands.\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Russian generals in command in Belarus<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The regime has finally shown its true colors. Instead of soft Belarusianization it pursues heavy Russification. It has outlawed nonprofits, shut down cultural initiatives and ramped up pro-Russian propaganda.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In the most outrageous show of loyalty to the Kremlin, it allowed Russia to launch an assault on Ukraine from Belarus, helping Russian troops close in on Kyiv. No matter how hard Luka\u0161enka tries to play down his role as a co-aggressor, that fact is undeniable.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In that complicity, authorities defied considerable public opposition, according to polls, to Belarus\u2019 involvement in Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t After Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on February 24, Luka\u0161enka has not been in control or command of Russian troops based in Belarus. Russian generals can do whatever they want without asking Minsk for its consent. Luka\u0161enka has become the Kremlin\u2019s vassal.\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>New North Korea instead of new Switzerland<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Luka\u0161enka considerably benefited from Belarus\u2019 access to cheap Russian energy in the 2000s. He raised pay and living standards without economic reforms. Observers labeled that arrangement oil for kisses. He has always employed anti-NATO rhetoric to appease the Kremlin.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Moscow moved to cut its subsidies for Belarus a few years before the 2020 presidential election. In 2022, Putin went nuts to attack Ukraine and clash with the developed world.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Now that the Russian blitzkrieg has failed, Luka\u0161enka realizes that he will fall if Moscow falls and is trying to maneuver his way out of trouble. But he has been cornered.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t His complicity in the war fuels public discontent. The government uses brutal methods to keep it in check, but it can eventually boil over into a new wave of protests.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A few years ago, Luka\u0161enka played a neutral role and said he wanted Belarus to be a new Switzerland. He turned his country into a new North Korea.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The more concessions he makes to Moscow as he is holding on to power, the more power he concedes. Putin can take advantage of the Russian military presence in Belarus to unseat him.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t This is not just Luka\u0161enka\u2019s personal problem. This is a matter of Belarus\u2019 survival as a nation state.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On the other hand, shaky moments in history give people a chance to change things for the better. The Russian government may develop cracks, creating a window of opportunity for those Belarusians who celebrate Freedom Day as their biggest national holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN The Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka government has banned any public celebrations of Freedom Day, March 25, and white-red-white flags associated by Belarusians with their country short-lived independence in 1918. Just four years ago, public celebrations of Freedom Day were still possible. The regime pursues an anti-Belarusian policy. Hopes for evolution have not come [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11384","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luka\u0161enka establishes anti-Belarusian regime | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN The Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka government has banned any public celebrations of Freedom Day, March 25, and white-red-white flags\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11384\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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