Migrants in Europe and relations with Putin: nothing stops Lukashenko from his seventh victory in the presidential elections

Migrants in Europe and relations with Putin: nothing stops Lukashenko from his seventh victory in the presidential elections

They call it the last dictatorship in Europe. This is how Belarus is defined, which has been led by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994. The Belarusian leader is now seeking a new mandate, his seventh in a row since he came to power. His hopes may be confirmed on January 26, when the presidential elections will be held: in this electoral round Lukashenko, a close political and military ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, will have to face four rival candidates, considered more of a formality than a real opposition.

The very fact that they were admitted to the elections, in fact, demonstrates how the authorities do not consider them a real threat. In view of the call to the polls for Belarusian citizens, yesterday the European Parliament asked the EU Commission and member states “not to recognize the result of the Belarusian elections scheduled for January 26th and the legitimacy of the incumbent dictator Aleksandar Lukashenko”.

Who are the “fictitious” rivals who will challenge Lukashenko

In a resolution adopted with 429 votes in favour, 205 against and 23 abstentions, MEPs note that, unlike in 2020, in the next elections there are only “fictitious candidates” to challenge Lukashenko, and express their firm support for the Belarusian people in pursuing of democracy, freedom and human rights. The deputies also say they are seriously concerned about the situation of political prisoners in Belarus, who, according to the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna, number over 1,200.

The EU authorizes the rejection of migrants at the border with Russia and Belarus

There are therefore four “fictitious” candidates to which the MEPs are referring. Anna Kanopatskaya, a former deputy who participated in the presidential elections in 2020, obtaining third place and 1.68 percent of the votes, based her political program on the release of prisoners of war. However, what is considered the most “opposition” figure has never expressed direct criticism of Lukashenko. Another candidate is Serghei Syrankov, first secretary of the Belarusian Communist Party, who said he is running “not for the post, but together with the president.” As the undisputed leader of Minsk, Syrankovn wants to initiate criminal proceedings against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The third candidate in the elections is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Gaidukevich, defined as Lukashenko’s “hereditary rival”, because his father participated in three election campaigns. According to Gaidukevich “there should be only patriots.” Finally, the name of Aleksandr Khizhnyak stands out, head of the Republican Party of Labor and Justice, the most “invisible” of the candidates, because he has little presence and influence in the country’s politics and on social media.

The weapon of migrants to destabilize the European Union

As emerged yesterday in Brussels, the deputies also denounce the complicity of the Lukashenko regime in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and condemn the deliberate subordination of Belarus to Russia in a so-called “union state”. The Minsk leader has never hid his sympathies towards Russian President Putin, so much so that he was accused of adopting hybrid warfare tactics to weaken and destabilize European governments in favor of Moscow.

Putin’s ally Lukashenko allegedly deported Ukrainian children to Belarus

According to what an investigation conducted by Politico reveals, Lukashenko is the promoter of a secret program aimed at destabilizing the European Union. The hybrid war plan, known as ”Operation Inferno”, would be based on the infiltration of migrants into the EU, a strategy designed to foment social and political unrest in member countries. Confidential documents, telephone interceptions and testimonies collected from internal sources confirm that Minsk orchestrated an organized system to exploit the migration crisis as an instrument of geopolitical pressure. The program, which would be run by senior Belarusian officials, aims to undermine European unity and reduce economic sanctions imposed against Lukashenko and his government.

Visas and travel packages for illegal immigrants offered by Minsk

Among the tactics stand out offers of tourist packages and group visas advertised in countries of origin such as Iraq, designed to facilitate irregular entry into the EU. Temporary stay in Belarus and approach to the border would be guaranteed by the Belarusian government itself with flights offered by the national airline Belavia, hotels owned by a government department and government-controlled travel agencies, as well as a shuttle service with private vehicles.

The plan would begin in 2021, coinciding with rising tensions between Belarus and the West following the disputed 2020 presidential election that led the EU to impose harsh sanctions against Lukashenko and his government. The regime’s use of migrants as a hybrid weapon has also been denounced by European leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country shares a border with Belarus.

According to Politico, the operation is still ongoing and has become more sophisticated over time. Some elements of the investigation suggest the existence of coordination with Russia, which openly supports Lukashenko’s regime.