Bush turns the heat on Belarus to target Europe's last dictator
From Jeremy Page in Moscow
PRESIDENT BUSH has set his sights on ousting Aleksandr Lukashenko as President of Belarus after a disputed referendum approved the Soviet-style leader’s plan to extend his ten-year rule indefinitely.
Mr Bush approved plans to support Belarus’s opposition and impose sanctions on its Government after police broke up protests against the referendum for the third day in Minsk, the Belarussian capital.
The EU, which has condemned the referendum, is considering imposing “smart” sanctions on Belarus, officials say. Opposition leaders and Western observers accuse Mr Lukashenko, Europe’s last dictator, of rigging the referendum and persecuting critics to prolong his iron-fisted rule over his ten million people.
“At a time when freedom is advancing around the world, Aleksandr Lukashenko and his government are turning Belarus into a regime of repression in the heart of Europe,” President Bush said in a statement.
“There is no place in a Europe whole and free for a regime of this kind.”
On Wednesday President Bush signed the Belarus Democracy Act, which calls for the promotion of democracy through aid to political parties, NGOs and the independent media and forbids US federal agencies from giving financial aid to Belarus.
“This bipartisan legislation demonstrates America’s deep concern over events in Belarus and a commitment to sustain those Belarussians who must labour in the shadows to return freedom to their country,” Mr Bush said.
President Lukashenko has told the United States to focus on flaws in its own political system.
The 50-year-old former collective farm manager argues that his Soviet-style system based on state control of the economy and suppression of dissent protects Belarus from the chaos into which Russia descended after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
In response to President Bush, the Belarussian Foreign Ministery said in a statement: “This openly hostile act leaves us with nothing but great sorrow. Now, the United States will be solely responsible for repairing relations with Belarus.” It said that Washington was “heading toward a confrontation reminiscent of the Cold War era”.
Russia, which has been negotiating terms for a loose union with Belarus for years and which fears the increasing US influence in its backyard, said Washington’s penalties were too stiff and could hurt the Belarussian people rather than Mr Lukashenko.
The United States and the EU have already imposed a visa ban on senior Belarussian officials suspected of involvement in the disappearance of opposition politicians four years ago.
Ural Latypov, head of the Belarussian presidential administration, told The Times: “If they think they can get rid of Mr Lukashenko this way and impose their own opposition candidate, then they are making a big mistake.”
He said the disappearance of the opposition politicians was a national tragedy but he could not explain why an official investigation had yet to produce any results.
Yesterday a court in Minsk sentenced two opposition activists to ten and fifteen days in jail for taking part in an unsanctioned rally. Two opposition leaders have also been sentenced to up to 15 days in jail and about 30 protesters were fined between $200 (£109) and $500 for leading a demonstration on Tuesday, which was broken up by riot police.
Protesters accused the police of beating the opposition leader, Anatoli Lebedko. Officials from Mr Lebedko’s United Civil Party said that he had had his ribs broken. Police would not comment.
The opposition was dealt another blow on Wednesday when a journalist working for an opposition newspaper was stabbed to death in her home in Minsk.
Veronika Cherkasova, 44, had worked in Belarus’s independent media for 15 years. She wrote most recently for the newspaper Solidarnost, which she joined in May last year.
