"Lukashenko Himself Recognized This."

• 19.10.2025, 20:22

It was the sanctions that freed the political prisoners.

Did the sanctions pressure on the Belarusian regime work? After all, many apologists of dialog with Lukashenko say: it was not the pressure that freed the political prisoners, but the Americans' conversations with the dictator. Such a question Charter97.org asked the coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Dmitry Bondarenko:

- I want to repeat the words of my friend Evgeny Afnagel, who spent five years in Lukashenko's prisons. He said it right: people who claim that sanctions don't work simply don't know the recent history of Belarus. The release of political prisoners has always happened only under the pressure of sanctions.

And Lukashenko himself actually recognized this, saying, "We have adapted to the sanctions, but I wish there were none." Belaruskali's markets in Brazil were lost, and cries that sanctions would lead to "starvation among African children" turned out to be empty. On the contrary - Lukashenko was forced to dump, and thus brought down prices on the world potash market. This allowed poor countries to buy fertilizers cheaper.

The same with oil products. Yes, Belarusian gasoline now goes to Russia, but at domestic prices, not to the Netherlands or the UK, where prices are several times higher. Putin demands supplies almost for free. But in case Ukrainian Tomahawks or Neptuns hit the Mozyr and Novopolotsk refineries, which fuel Russia's military equipment, Lukashenko's regime may simply collapse. Because potash exports and oil refining are the backbone of Lukanomics.

The sanctions are in effect. And if Lukashenko stops repression and releases all political prisoners, even the civil campaign "European Belarus" will be ready to talk about lifting the sanctions. International experts say Lukashenko will have to take a serious step: to release all political prisoners and stop repression. This may happen in the near future.