Saturday May 29, 2021
Another 500 million
Lukashenko gets a loan from Putin
The Governor of Belarus Lukashenko and Russian President Putin meet in the Black Sea. The former is under pressure due to penalties after an emergency landing of a plane with the next prison sentence for a critic of the regime. The latter can relieve some of the pressure with money.
Russia wants to support Belarus, led by the authoritarian regime, with a loan of $ 500 million by the end of June. Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that this was agreed upon in a meeting between Belarusian Governor Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the second installment of a loan decided last Sunday before the emergency landing of a passenger plane in Minsk, which has come under heavy criticism at the international level. The United States previously imposed new sanctions on Belarus.
In the coming weeks, US President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman, Jane Saki, has announced that punitive measures against nine state-owned companies will take effect again. The United States announced that it is preparing to impose targeted sanctions on “prominent figures in the system” in consultation with the European Union and other partners. The US State Department also issued a travel warning for the former Soviet republic. The US FAA has warned airlines to use “extreme caution” when flying over Belarus (formerly Belarus).
Kremlin spokesman for Protasevic’s girlfriend
The European Union had already approved new sanctions on Monday. Belarus has also promised a support package of 3 billion euros. However, it should only be activated when the state has “begun a process of democratic transition.” In a report on world development, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that the next target is “a list of officials who organized this piracy”. In addition, they continue to work on economic sanctions.
The confrontation between Belarus and the West came to a head when a Ryanair airliner landed for Lukashenko last Sunday in order to capture one of his opponents. Blogger Roman Protasiewicz has been in detention since then, as has his Russian girlfriend Sophia Sabega.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov said Sabija’s fate was “not indifferent.” At the same time, he confirmed that the 23-year-old is a Russian citizen, but has a residence permit in Belarus.
Lukashenko had flown to Putin in Sochi on the Black Sea under the pressure of recent sanctions. According to the Kremlin, the talks were mainly about trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. Belarus has been hit hard and is already in chalk with Moscow in the billions.
On the other hand, opposition leader Svetlana Techanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania, a country of the European Union, called for solidarity with Protasevic, Sabega and other political prisoners. People from all over the world gathered in rallies, including in Berlin.
