Kolesnikova Urged Europe To Dialog With Lukashenko

• 19.01.2026, 14:25

The ex-political prisoner called the dictator a "pragmatic man."

Former political prisoner Maria Kolesnikova gave an interview to the Financinal Times, in which she urged European leaders to dialog with Lukashenko.

Kolesnikova reproaches the Europeans for the fact that they "did not start talking to Lukashenko before the United States."

"Lukashenko is a pragmatic man. He understands the language of business," says the former chief of staff of Viktor Babariko, a former head of staff of Belgazprombank, a presidential candidate in Belarus's 2020 election.

Argumentation Kolesnikova, as the FT writes, goes against the position of Europe, which advocates minimizing contacts with the regime and maintaining economic sanctions on the export of raw materials and goods from Belarus, a ban on flights and stricter visa rules.

It should be noted that Maria Kolesnikova opposed the introduction of economic sanctions against the Lukashenko regime at the height of the protests in 2020. On August 15, 2020, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, she said that "the time for punitive measures against the regime has not yet come." Recall, these days there were bloody crackdowns on protests across Belarus.