While Western countries escalate sanctions on Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in response to severe human rights abuses and violations of international law, the IMF is funding it
Belarusian law enforcement officers are seen in a street. Picture: BELAPAN/REUTERS
It is not the first time this has happened. In 2008, facing severe financial stress from the global financial crisis, Belarus appealed to the IMF for emergency help. I was one of the few ambassadors in Minsk to take a close interest. As negotiations got under way, the IMF representative and I spent a lot of time together, often on long walks away from prying ears, to explore a solution that would both help Belarus while also promoting human rights through some form of linkage.
The situation today is totally different. Repression in Belarus is unprecedentedly severe and getting worse. The regime’s international actions — the forcing down of RyanAir flight 4978 in May, the sinister activities of its security services abroad, and its mass transit of Middle Eastern migrants to the Lithuanian border to strain the resources of an EU neighbour — are turning it from a dictatorship into a pariah. Lukashenko is burning bridges with the West forever.
It also presses its own geopolitical conditionality by seeking a quid pro quo of deeper Belarusian integration into Russia. This could in due course include military basing rights — a matter of deep concern to the West, since three EU and Nato member states border Belarus. Against this background, the IMF’s unconditional SDR allocation is not only a gift to Belarus, but also supports Russia’s goal of keeping Lukashenko in power.
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