Lukashenko Calls CIS Into Economic Isolation

• 11.10.2025, 17:04

The dictator suggested closing the markets and letting in "only those we want."

Drowning alone is sad. Even if you're drowning with your closest ally. And when everyone drowns, then it is not so upsetting. Therefore, at the CIS summit in Dushanbe, Lukashenko again convinced his colleagues that there is nowhere to escape from him and Putin. And asked to protect Belarusian goods from foreign competition, writes "Plan B".

"We should make it so that only those whom we will let enter our economic space," Lukashenko said impromptu, reading the text from a piece of paper.

Said, speaking before the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the Prime Minister of Armenia. At the same time, he again explained that "we are not welcome anywhere else" and suggested restoring the common market that once existed in the Soviet Union.

"If we develop this common strategy, we will restore our economic space."

But he did not explain why everyone else needs it. And, probably, he did it right. Because among all the gathered the slogan "we are not welcome anywhere" is relevant only for Lukashenko's ally Putin. They really have nowhere to go from each other. But everyone else has a place to go. And they do it with great enthusiasm.

The main trade partner for Kyrgyzstan is China. More than half of Kazakhstan's trade is with the European Union. Azerbaijan exports 40 percent to Italy, another 14-16 percent to Turkey, and only four percent to Russia.

So the proposal to protect its markets from its main trading partners so that Lukashenko would have somewhere to put his tractors is hardly tempting. Even allied Russia, despite Lukashenko's appeals, is not eager to close its market so that Belarusian goods would be more comfortable there.

Albeit, none of the CIS leaders commented on the idea aloud. But it seems that he did receive a non-verbal response to his initiatives. On the first day of the visit, only Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon met with Lukashenko. But the latter, as the host of the summit, really had nowhere to go to get away from Lukashenko.