Alexander Lukashenko - Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy

Lukashenko’s relationship with the EU has been strained, in part by choice and in part by his policies towards domestic opponents. Lukashenko’s repression of opponents have earned him the moniker "Europe’s last dictator" and resulted in the EU imposing visa sanctions on him and a range of Belarusian officials. However, in a shift of policy in October 2008, the EU decided temporarily to lift visa sanctions, mainly to help persuade Belarus not to recognize the independence of Georgian breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which had been unilaterally recognized by Russia two months previous. These were renewed six months later (in 2009) and are due to expire at the end of 2009. On 16 September 2009, Lukashenko entered the EU for the second time since the temporary suspension of sanctions, to visit a Belarusian trade fair in Vilnius, Lithuania. The date coincided with the tenth anniversary of the disappearance and presumed murder of the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Viktar Hanchar (or Viktor Gonchar, in the Russian version).

Since the EU adopted this policy of ‘change through engagement’, it has supported the provision of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to help stabilize the Belarusian economy.

Supporters of the policy of ‘change through engagement’ put forward a range of arguments. Firstly, the EU’s old policy of isolating Belarus had failed to produce results. Secondly, engagement offers some prospect of change, though no assurance of change. Thirdly, it provides opportunities to engage in a dialogue in private and to press in public for change. Fourthly, engagement may influence people in Lukashenko’s entourage, by exposing them to the European system and by showing that ‘European values’ are real, not merely a concept or a term to disguise a political agenda.

Recently, Lukashenko's relationship with Russia, once his powerful ally and vocal supporter, significantly deteriorated. The run-up to the Belarusian presidential election, 2010 was marked by a series of Russian media attacks upon the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko. State-controlled NTV television broadcast throughout July a multi-part documentary entitled 'The Godfather' highlighting the suspicious disappearance of a number of opposition leaders during the late 1990s, as well as highlighting a statement Lukashenko had made seemingly praising Adolf Hitler. Lukashenko referred to the media attack as 'dirty propaganda'.