BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/03/2008

Thatcher's PR man to rework image of Europe's pariah

Luke Harding in Moscow

The Guardian,

He has been dubbed Europe's last dictator. He is known for jailing his political enemies, closing down theatre productions, and presiding - in the words of one opposition leader - over a "horrible" regime.

But Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus's autocratic president, has come up with a solution to overcome his pariah status: he has hired veteran British spin doctor Tim Bell. According to the president's website, Lukashenko met Bell last week. The PR guru, who is better known for masterminding Margaret Thatcher's election campaigns, was invited to come up with a strategy to improve Belarus's dismal image.

"He would like his country to be better understood, and his successes to be better grasped," Bell told the Moscow Times, after meeting the president at his Minsk office. "Lukashenko doesn't see why Belarus can't be a friend to the west and a friend to Russia at the same time."

Bell is no stranger to controversial clients. As well as Thatcher, the 66-year-old has advised Iraq's government on how to promote democracy. Bell has represented Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky in his battle with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, following the 2006 murder of the dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

But Lukashenko is arguably his toughest brief yet. The EU and the US have imposed a visa ban on Lukashenko and other Belarus officials. In 2005 the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, named Belarus an "outpost of tyranny". Human rights groups accuse Lukashenko, president since 1994, of presiding over an imitation Soviet regime with secret police, fraudulent elections, and jailed opponents.

Yesterday one leading opposition figure told the Guardian that Bell's new job was a "mission impossible". "The regime is horrible. There are gross violations. We don't have free elections. We have political prisoners. Independent press is almost non-existent," Andrei Sannikov, Belarus's former deputy foreign minister, said.

Asked why Lukashenko had turned to Bell, he said: "The economic situation is getting worse. Lukashenko is trying to preserve power. Russia will not help him. He is trying to diversify his resources and relationships with the outside world."

In 2007 Russia, Belarus's neighbour and only significant ally, said it was ending deliveries of cut-price gas to Minsk, dealing a severe blow to the country's economy. Lukashenko has turned to the west, indicating he wants to end his country's international isolation.

Last week Lukashenko told a delegation of British businessmen that Britain could soon become Belarus's biggest investor. "Belarus is a European state and, historically, our people have done a lot for Europe," Lukashenko suggested.

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/18/2

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