BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Wednesday, April 27, 2005. Issue 3155. Page 10.

The Bad Boy From Belarus Strikes Again

By Yulia Latynina

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the Belarussian opposition in Vilnius and called Belarus the last dictatorship in Europe. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that there would be "no color revolutions, cooked up and paid for by Western crooks," and flew off to meet President Vladimir Putin.

Lukashenko's Belarus looks like the Soviet Union 40 years ago. It is the land of the almighty KGB where the president's opponents disappear without a trace. It does not have anything resembling the Yukos affair because there are no Yukoses. The wealthiest organization in the land is the presidential property department. But Lukashenko would not be able to survive without Russian support. Russia sends him gas at half price. Belarus is a huge customs black hole that allows companies authorized by the property department to bring goods into Russia.

To top it all off, Lukashenko is also a big pain in the rear. Lukashenko rudely accused Russia of trying to absorb Belarus by means of the "filthy ruble." He stated that Putin's proposal to unite "was insulting in nature" and that "even Lenin and Stalin never came up with" something so horrible. Lukashenko promised to give Beltransgaz to Gazprom, but then didn't. He promised to unite with Russia, but then didn't. This has to be the biggest affront to Russia's dignity. Enemies may insult an empire, but its puppet states? Never.

Russia keeps making the same mistakes. In Ukraine, Putin supported Viktor Yanukovych. When Yanukovych lost, it was all the CIA's fault. Now Russia is supporting Lukashenko, who thumbs his nose at us. When Lukashenko falls, it will be blamed on the Americans again.

Meanwhile, the same opposition leaders who met with Rice in Vilnius have long sought support from the Kremlin, which could have done away with Lukashenko with the wave of a hand and brought a new democratic government to power that would have been grateful to Moscow. Why did Russia miss this historic opportunity?

There is only one logical explanation, albeit an odd one. President Lukashenko is loaded -- his property department alone has a turnover estimated at $1 billion a year -- and it is safer to keep this money in Moscow. Perhaps someone convinced Putin that if he waits just a tiny bit longer, Lukashenko will be backed into a corner. Then he will agree to merge with Russia. This will make it easier to change the Constitution and let Putin have a third term.

But dictators never volunteer to hand over power, not to their people nor to the president next door.

Source:

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/04/27/007.html