BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
02/10/2008
Belarus Elections Evaluated In an Undertone
The Belarus Election Commission announced yesterday that a new parliament will hold the first meeting November 27. Although neither the United States nor the EU recognized the elections as free or democratic, they expressed readiness to cooperate with Minsk and suspend sanctions imposed on high-ranked bureaucrats of Belarus, including President Alexander Lukashenko. The aim of such reconciliatory rhetoric of the West is to prevent Belarus from recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, for which PM Vladimir Putin will probably press during his forthcoming visit to Minsk.
Absolute disappointment is the evident sentiment of all comments of the EU and Washington about the recent elections in Belarus. The negative attitude of such extent used to result in tougher sanctions for Minsk, but this scenario will hardly be played this year.
To the contrary, the standing of the West appears more than amiable. One of the reasons could be that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko manifests the desire to cooperate. "If Europe makes two steps in this cooperation, we will respond by five steps towards," Lukashenko said during the meeting with Ann-Marie Lizin, special co-ordinator leading the OSCE short-term observers in Belarus.
The timing of the reconciliatory efforts of the West isn't accidental. Russia's President Vladimir Putin will go to Minsk October 6 and, in the West, they apprehend that Putin will win from Lukashenko a firm promise for recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Meanwhile, the opposition in Belarus endeavors to persuade the West that the authoritative regime of Lukashenko hasn't changed, to no avail though.
Source:
http://www.kommersant.com/p1034319/Belarus_reconciliatory_West/
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