Some news about Belarus
You never find it in the official media as there is total censorship in Belarus, but the country is in an unprecedented political crisis: President Alexander Lukashenko is afraid to start an election campaign, financial problems have not been solved, the coronavirus epidemic is coming, and propaganda fails to cope with public discontent — the support of Lukashenko is close to zero.
By early summer, Lukashenko may face a ruined economy, mass unemployment and protests. The situation with COVID-19 is clearly not in favor of the regime: the networks are already calling for a mass boycott of power at all levels, and people feel that Lukashenko is very much afraid that the end of his rule is near.
Lukashenko expected the epidemic of “psychosis” to subsidize by Easter, but it seems like he was deceived by his own experts from the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies, controlled by Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. Analysts have convinced Lukashenko that Russia’s recommendations to take measures against the spread of COVID-19 are “pressure”, after which the expertise on the epidemic was prepared not by professional doctors, but by Makei’s people.
Lukashenko recieved their reports on such topics as: the geopolitical importance of the pandemic COVID-19, increasing food exports in the context of the pandemic COVID-19, coronavirus as a medical myth. Many of their theses were used by the President in his speeches. These are some of them.
“Despite the fact that the Coronavirus pandemic seriously changes the agenda of many countries in the world, it will not cancel Russia’s desire to strengthen its geopolitical control over Belarus. Therefore, once the epidemic in Russia is over, the Kremlin will return to its integration ultimatum”.
“Coronavirus has made the strongest adjustments to the schedule of integration actions of the Kremlin. For us, this means that the decision is postponed for the next 6–12 months. But then the Kremlin will return to the issue with even more energy.”
“It is hard to imagine that Moscow will ever agree to give Minsk a balanced word on a wide range of issues. Belarus, on the other hand, cannot accept anything less for parity, as it would mean loss of sovereignty”.
As a result, Lukashenko believed that in the situation with the coronavirus it is even possible to successfully increase exports on foreign markets, if he refused to take decisive measures against COVID-19, and did not listen to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health.
As a result, a group of Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei under the guise of expertise supplies Alexander Lukashenko with disinfection about the situation with COVID-19 pandemic, while Makei himself, according to some sources, is preparing for the presidential election. There are rumours that the West has allocated $70 million for his election campaign and hired a British PR agency.
Meanwhile, more than 2/3 of Belarusians are sure that the situation with the coronavirus pandemic will only get worse. According to the polls, the majority of Belarusians consider it necessary to ban all public events now (70%), quarantine educational institutions (56%), and transfer all possible employees to remote work (53%). Only 8% of those surveyed felt that no action should be taken. At the same time, every second resident of the country has already experienced a decline in income. And 79% of them expect a further drop in earnings. According to the feeling of people, their income has decreased by about a third.
According to the available information, at the beginning of April Lukashenko’s rating made up 9.3%.
Dissatisfaction with the authorities is still growing in virtual space, but it may soon turn into real mass protests. Brest residents are already chanting in the streets: “Lukashenko — go away!”
