EU Must Give Belarus Alternative to Ties With Russia - Polish Diplomat

WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2020) The European Union must provide Belarus with an alternative to its perennial partnership with Russia, Pawel Jablonski, the Polish undersecretary of state for economic and development cooperation, said on Tuesday.

In a commentary published by Polish news agency PAP, Jablonski said that the EU's reaction to the developments in Belarus should go beyond sanctions and a resolution. The diplomat said that Brussels should make Minsk an offer of cooperation to win over both the opposition and embattled President Alexander Lukashenko.

"A concrete proposal for such cooperation with Europe should appear, because this is the only way to induce the Belarusians and, possibly, Alexander Lukashenko himself, to sit down at the table and start talking with the people. So that both the opposition and he, too, can see that for Belarus there is an alternative to cooperating with Russia," Jablonski emphasized.

According to a statement from the German government, EU leaders will hold a video conference regarding Belarus on Wednesday.

It will follow up on the EU foreign ministers' August 14 talks that rejected Belarus' election results and called for sanctions on its officials.

Belarus plunged into protests after the August 9 presidential election results showed incumbent Lukashenko win over 80 percent of the vote to claim a sixth term as president. The opposition, coalesced around unlikely contender Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, disputed the result and has been taking to the streets daily since.

The first days of unrest saw a tough confrontation between protesters and law enforcement officers, resulting in mass detentions and injuries on both sides. Security forces have since softened the response and started releasing those detained en masse, but this has so far not helped to appease the demonstrators.

Belarus' bond with Russia is perhaps the strongest among all post-Soviet states, even sharing a unity state treaty. Belarus' robust manufacturing and agricultural sectors are largely geared towards exports to Russia.