The President of Belarus Alexandr Lukashenko and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin are two models for President Igor Dodon in the organization of power inside the country, especially the “vertical of power”, international relations expert Ion Tăbârță stated in IPN’s public debate “Situation in Belarus: mutual influences with world”.
According to the expert, the personal component persists in the message transmitted by President Dodon after the August 9 presidential elections of Belarus. “Besides being a congratulatory message to his Belarusian counterpart, the message has a pronounced personal component. President Igor Dodon insisted on his good personal relations with the President of Belarus”.
As to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ reaction to the situation in Belarus, Ion Tăbârță said this institution had a neutral reaction, in line with diplomatic standards. Civil society also reacted, as did the pro-European opposition parties of Moldova – the PAS and PPPDA, which supported the opposition in Belarus.
As to the reaction at international level, the expert said that besides Russia, other players are not interested, do not become involved or didn’t adopt a position. “The United States of America has other problems on the priority agenda and the events in Belarus hold less interest for it. China, evidently, supports Alexandr Lukashenko as it want Belarus to be stable in the same style, but is also preoccupied with economic problems. The European Union does not have a well-defined position and it seems that the EU was taken by surprise by these events. The EU didn’t anticipate these massive protests mounted by Belarusian society,” he stated.
As regards the relations between Belarus and Russia, he noted that Alexandr Lukashenko’s rhetoric in the election campaign was anti-Russia, but after the protest movement appeared, the rhetoric changed. Russia became involved in the situation in Belarus after the elections, including in the management of a number of processes that changed meanwhile. Putin wants Lukashenko to keep power in Belarus as this way he will be more willing to help Russia solve a number of problems existing in the relations between the two states.
The public debate “Situation in Belarus: mutual influences with world” was the 151st installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
