As migrants camped in the woods to prepare for another sub-zero night, Eva-Maria Liimets, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, revealed to the evening news program on Tuesday. Alexander Lukashenko In more than a year, the first call between a European leader and a Belarusian dictator called for Angela Merkel.
“He wants to stop sanctions, [and] Be recognized as the head of state so that he can continue to work,” she said, he told Merkel.
What Lukashenko wants is never a secret, but there are signs that an effective For something The proposal to the German leader is still shocking. What is even more surprising is the effort Lukashenko has made to convey this message.
Last year, the leader of Belarus has gone from a nuisance on the European border to a greater threat. He placed the Ryanair flight or engineer immigration crisis on the European border on a whim. However, Lukashenko still seems to believe that the best way for him to get out of his predicament is to escalate further, eager to restore ties with Europe by becoming more disgusting.
To some extent, he can claim that he succeeded. Merkel called Lukashenko for the second time on Wednesday. His news service stated that the two sides have agreed to hold direct talks with the EU on resolving the crisis, and Merkel has passed the request of the European Commission President. Ursula von Delane, Allowing international organizations to provide assistance.
This is exactly the kind of attention that Lukashenko, who has been blacklisted since the brutal suppression of the opposition in 2020, has longed for. (His spokesperson denied that he proposed sanctions or recognized him as president during the talks.) The talks angered senior officials in the government of the country bordering Lukashenko. Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that he would not admit any transactions that “over our heads”.
“So far, no serious leader has spoken to Lukashenko,” he said, promising that Poland would “Relentlessly” exercise of sovereignty.
But fundamentally speaking, Lukashenko’s start was miscalculated. Europe has shown that it is prepared to support Poland, despite its concerns about its extreme border measures to show Minsk that it cannot be blackmailed. New sanctions It has been confirmed that this will further isolate Belarus and make Putin the only real lifeline for Lukashenko.
European leaders will not be blackmailed, admitting that their “gang-style tactics” have caused the worst border crisis in decades. “In our opinion, the important thing is European Union Stay united and exert influence on Belarus through actions,” Limetz said.
The outcome of the Belarusian leader remains opaque. “He is not afraid of death at the border,” Noticed a panel of experts From the European Council on Foreign Relations. “For him, this is about revenge, about the survival of the regime-it means that he is ready to escalate further and seek Russian support in the process.”
On Wednesday alone, Belarus stated that it would temporarily need to restrict oil supply to Poland and suspend power transmission to Ukraine. The government claims that both are due to technical problems.
On the other hand, this may be the best time for him to declare victory. On Wednesday, the Kremlin welcomed the talks between Lukashenko and Merkel, calling it “very important.” Despite the lack of confirmation from European officials, the main Belarusian news agency was shocked by the new negotiations with Brussels.
In the past day, Belarus has begun housing up to 1,000 migrants in a transportation and logistics facility, allowing state and foreign journalists to film images of officials serving asylum seekers with hot meals provided by the same government that helped plan the crisis.
For an increasingly unpopular leader of Belarus, this may already be good.
