(Appeal to the countries of the European Union)
During the last year Belarus, the Belarusian society and the Belarusian emigration are being faced with the political actions of European countries which restrict the rights and possibilities of the Belarusian people as well as equate the Belarusian people and Belarus to Russia.
In fact we have to deal with the „carpet sanctions“. This is especially revealed in the last sanction package adopted by the European Council on June 29, 2024 (COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2024/1865). This package contains more than 100 thousand of goods. There are not only the goods which could be used in the military industry but as well the basic everyday goods like buttons, soups, clothes (even the second hand clothes), paints, paper (even the toilet paper), brushes and so one. The sanctions of this kind are directed against the ordinary people and demonstrate the absurd politics of the European Union.
In fact this is the regime of the total commercial embargo and the economic blockade of the Belarusian people. We ask: what’s the point of this absurd politics?! Why is this happening?
What are the goals of these politics? Who has formulated these goals?
“The carpet sanctions“ are universal sanctions. They are directed against the ordinary citizens and their private economic interests as well as their economic activity. These sanctions are provoking the deterioration of their social and economic welfare. This kind of sanctions witnesses that the European Union admits and uses the principle of the collective responsibility of Belarusian people for the Lukashenka’s politics. The European Union is considering the Belarusian people as a threat, the equal threat as faced from Russia. The European Union doesn’t take into account the fact that Belarus and the Belarusian people don’t participate in the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia is using the anti-popular collaborative Lukashenka regime in its interests.
Some of the neighbouring countries have adopted the unfriendly politics towards the Belarusian society. For example Latvia and Lithuania have forbidden to the cars with the Belarusian registration numbers to enter their territory from 16th July, 2024. Poland, Lithuania and Estonia have adopted some other limitations and interdictions towards the Belarusian people.
In return, the European politicians have expressed several times their support of Belarus and solidarity with the Belarusian people in its struggle with the dictator Lukashenka. But the real actions of the European countries demonstrate some contrary tendency.
These actions and the expansion of different kinds of limitations adopted lately causes us concern. The Belarusian people is being equalized to the Russians. It is possible that the European Union would forbid to the Belarusian citizens to enter the territory of its countries. This would provoke the final annihilation of the state independence and of the Belarusian society as well as intensify the process of annexation of Belarus by Russia. Moscow would occupy the Belarusian territory.
The politics of „carpet sanctions“ would provoke not only the deterioration of social and economic situation and undermine the political activity of the Belarusian people. The Belarusian society would be isolated. The mobility of citizens would be limited and they would be reoriented to Russia. Namely this situation corresponds to the strategical goals of Moscow. The isolation and discrimination would provoke the hostile and anti-European moods of the Belarusian society. The Russian propaganda would intensify these tendencies and dominate the information area of Belarus.
Furthermore, the politics of „carpet sanctions“ completely ignore the fact that hundreds of thousand of Belarusian citizens have participated in the protest actions against the Lukashenka regime and are victims of repressions remain in Belarus. These persons don’t have any opportunity to go abroad and to get the material support.
It must be noted that the economic contacts with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland are the unique source of income and the possibility to meet their basic needs for many Belarusian citizens (including the political active persons). Many families of political prisoners and victims of political repressions are dependent of the material support from abroad. The humanitarian help would be strictly limited.
In these circumstances the democratic National and Liberation Movement Free Belarus appeals the countries of the European Union:
1. To stop the policy of the equating of Belarus and the Belarusian people to Russia and the Russian people;
2. To stop the policy of discrimination of the Belarusian people in European countries;
3. To establish a moratorium and to revise radically the last package of sanctions adopted by the European Union against Belarus;
4. To adhere to the principles of support and solidarity with the Belarusian people as well as to create conditions for the European influence in Belarus and to strengthen ties between the Belarusian people and Europe.
We appeal all the pro-Belarusian democratic structures to support our position.
Zianon PAZNIAK
-- Ph. D., Member of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus (1990-96), leader of the parliamentary Opposition of the Belarusian People’s Front, candidate to the presidency of Belarus, Political Leader of the National Liberation Movement Free Belarus
Pavel USAU
-- Doctor of Social Sciences. Professor, member of the Belarusian National Secretariat of the Movement Free Belarus, Director of the Center of Political Analysis and Prognosis (Warsaw)
Long live Belarus!
July 19, 2024