Translated material
Lukashenko is maneuvering
Belarus released the last political prisoners
There are no political prisoners left in Belarus, whose release the West insisted on. Yesterday, Sergei Parsyukevich and Andrei Kim, participants in business protests that took place this winter, were released from custody. This will put a new emphasis on Minsk’s relations with the European Union and the United States.“My son was released. I don’t really know anything yet. The colony said that he had been released,” Tatyana, the mother of 22-year-old Andrei Kim, told Vremya Novostei. At the beginning of the year, as an active participant in the demonstration of entrepreneurs, he received a year and a half of imprisonment, of which he spent seven months in captivity. 43-year-old Sergei Parsyukevich served about six months after being sentenced to 2.5 years in prison on charges of beating a police officer. His release was confirmed to VN by lawyer Vera Stremkovskaya: “Everyone was released. We are very happy."
Prior to this, on August 16, ex-presidential candidate 52-year-old Alexander Kazulin was pardoned. He was sentenced on charges of organizing mass unrest to five and a half years in prison following protests surrounding the 2006 presidential election. The question of his release has long clouded relations between Minsk and the West. In the winter of this year, several opponents of the authorities were released from Belarusian prisons, and at the same time they offered Kazulin release - on the condition that he leaves the country. But the oppositionist remained in prison, saying that he did not want to be the subject of bargaining. This became one of the reasons for the diplomatic conflict between Minsk and Washington in the spring of this year. Belarus insisted on the mutual recall of ambassadors for consultations and reduction of the staff of the US Embassy to the minimum. Yesterday, the press service of the American diplomatic mission told VN that “the embassy considers the release of Kim and Parsyukevich an important event.”
Minsk first announced its intention to improve relations with the West in early 2007, after an energy conflict with Russia caused by rising energy prices. It is noteworthy that President Alexander Lukashenko only returned yesterday from Sochi, where he discussed the issue of prices with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
“The war in South Ossetia strengthened the Belarusian leadership in the idea that they need to distance themselves from Russia by strengthening the European rear. Minsk is trying to maneuver between two centers of power, the contradictions between which have worsened against the backdrop of the Caucasian war,” independent Belarusian political scientist Alexander Klaskovsky told VN. But he doubts that a rapid improvement in relations between Belarus and the West is possible today: “Thawing with the EU and the USA is not a matter of one day. There will be political bargaining ahead, because each side is afraid to give a lot and receive little.” The expert recalled that the West, in addition to the release of political prisoners, put forward other demands to Minsk. These include holding parliamentary elections on September 28 according to international standards.