{"id":55122,"date":"2023-12-12T21:15:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T18:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=longreads&p=55122"},"modified":"2023-12-12T21:16:01","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T18:16:01","slug":"belarusian-oppositions-strong-us-ties-do-not-make-life-easier-for-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/55122\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian opposition\u2019s strong US ties do not make life easier for political prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (unsplash.com \/ niu niu)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During her trip to the United States from December 3 to 8, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja attempted to institutionalize the alliance of Belarusian pro-democracy forces with Washington. She called on the US to step up pressure on Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, support political prisoners and democratic change in Belarus and help protect the country\u2019s sovereignty from Russian threats. The strategic alliance is hardly able to ease the plight of Belarusian political prisoners. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka goes to Bejing; Cichano\u016dskaja, to Washington<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian leader left for China on the same day to meet with President Xi Jinping. Their destinations reflect a divide in Belarusian society over a civilizational and geopolitical pivot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus has not yet made its choice, which creates ample opportunities for external influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja’s first visit to the US in July 2021 and her meeting with President Joe Biden was a diplomatic breakthrough for the new Belarusian opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Cichano\u016dskaja would not talk about her foreign policy priorities. She was hoping for Russia’s support at the time and was seeking to expand her base beyond the pro-Western opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her first visit to the US, she reaffirmed her camp\u2019s determination to forge close ties with the US and the European Union, and later declared her goal to seek EU membership for Belarus.

Her latest US trip was an attempt to institutionalize the alliance and establish a permanent mechanism of cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Belarus hearings at the House of Representatives, Cichano\u016dskaja called for ratcheting up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pressure on \u0141uka\u0161enka to deepen his isolation and bring him to account for political reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US recently expanded its sanctions against Minsk with a total of eight individuals and 11 companies being targeted.

Cichano\u016dskaja also called for support for pro-democracy forces and political prisoners; assistance to Belarusians with legalization in the US; and help with protecting Belarus from Russian expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She suggested establishing a US-led coalition for an independent democratic Belarus, similar to the Ramstein coalition for Ukraine, but with an emphasis on political rather than military support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point of the Strategic Dialogue, according to Cichano\u016dskaja, is to “formalize the relationship” and develop a strategy and roadmaps for Belarus. This format is new for the US, which usually prefers to deal with governments, not the opposition.

The Belarusian opposition leader asked Washington to appoint a new special envoy for relations with Belarusian pro-democracy forces to succeed Julie Fisher, who completed her round of duty in June.

The US Congress is reportedly working on the fifth version of the Belarus Democracy Act. It was first adopted in 2004 and then updated in 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2020. Valeryj Kavale\u016dski, deputy head of the United Transitional Cabinet, is expecting the new version to be “more comprehensive and tougher.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk lacking incentives to release political prisoners<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At meetings with Cichano\u016dskaja and her team, US officials reiterated an uncompromising stance on Belarus\u2019 political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US Department of State, pointed out that Washington will not ease sanctions unless Minsk releases all political prisoners, stops reprisals and ends its complicity in Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement is important in the context of recent heated debate at the opposition Coordination Council about how to secure the release of political prisoners amid reports of mistreatment, torture and deaths of inmates blamed on the denial of medical assistance.

Some pro-democracy activists are upset with the Cichano\u016dskaja team\u2019s inability to break the deadlock and suggest that the US and EU should lift or ease their sanctions first to encourage Minsk to release political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The critics may have a point. What is more important, human life and health or political goals? History has many examples of governments making political concessions to save people’s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, during the Cold War, West Germany paid cash for political prisoners to East Germany. Israel temporarily halted its military operation against Hamas to secure the release of hostages.

However, \u0141uka\u0161enka flatly refuses to negotiate with the opposition leaders. They can only appeal to the West to make concessions to Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But EU and US politicians have their own priorities. Western sanctions were imposed not only because of political prisoners, but also in response to the forced landing of the Ryanair flight, Minsk\u2019s role in engineering a migrant crisis at the EU border and \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s complicity in the Russian war against Ukraine.

The war takes precedence from the West\u2019s point of view. If negotiations with Minsk ever begin, the first and foremost item to be discussed will be ending Belarus\u2019 support for the Russian aggression and expelling Russian troops from Belarusian territory. The US State Department spokesman made it crystal clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past Minsk released political prisoners to improve ties with the West as part of political liberalization, which turned out to be nothing but window dressing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West Germany paid ransom for GDR dissidents during d\u00e9tente, when the dialogue between the West and East began. The release of political prisoners was an integral part of that dialogue and took place in relatively liberal times, when communist regimes did not execute political opponents, but only locked them up in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. No one even tried to make a deal with Josef Stalin who held millions of prisoners in the GULAG camps.

The tension between the West, and Russia and Belarus is close to the breaking point, with both autocrats ramping up terror against political opponents and dissidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk may put reprisals on hold and release political prisoners only if it launches political liberalization or opens politics up to the West. So far, the political climate in Belarus is extremely adverse. As far as political repression is concerned, \u0141uka\u0161enka would not take his foot off the gas because he wants to stay in power as long as possible.

Relations with the West are not important for him now that Russia has become the sole guarantor of his political survival, making the release of political prisoners irrelevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During her trip to the United States from December 3 to 8, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja attempted to institutionalize the alliance of Belarusian pro-democracy forces with Washington. She called on the US to step up pressure on Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, support political prisoners and democratic change in Belarus and help protect the country\u2019s sovereignty from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":54356,"template":"","rubric":[14],"class_list":["post-55122","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBelarusian opposition\u2019s strong US ties do not make life easier for political prisoners | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During her trip to the United States from December 3 to 8, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja attempted to institutionalize the alliance\" \/>\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\/55122\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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