Lukashenko threatens the European Union to cancel gas transit

Drthreatens the ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko I In the event of accepting the fifth package of sanctions against his regime, while ending the transit of Russian natural gas to the West. “We must not forgive them anything,” Lukashenko said of the European Union during a government meeting on Thursday. Poland scares us by closing the borders. Please close it. Then fewer Belarusians will leave for Poland.

Many Belarusians have fled to Poland since 2020 due to the brutal suppression of protests against Lukashenko’s dictatorship. Lukashenko He called the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, which runs from northwest Siberia Jamal through Belarus and Poland to Germany, as irreplaceable, and emphasized that “we must stop at nothing to protect our sovereignty and independence.”

Is Russia losing revenue?

However, the Belarusian part of the pipeline belongs exclusively to the Russian section Gazprom Group. Last year, the latter had to accept that the Minsk regime imprisoned the leadership of the Belarusian branch of Gazprombank after the long-time director of Belgazprombank, Viktor Papariko, became a promising opponent of Lukashenko before the presidential elections. It is questionable whether Moscow would be willing to accept the loss of revenue if the pipeline was blocked; Added to this are new losses in reputation and doubts about the reliability of Gazprom.

In the struggle for power, Lukashenko became increasingly dependent on the Kremlin, which, however, repels the rulers with the aim of obtaining new loan obligations. Concerns about the financial consequences are also likely to make the regime reluctant to completely suspend transit traffic through Belarus on roads and railways to the west, which are said to be delays.