“Mr. Sikorski's comments have been raising smiles for a long time,” remarked Andrei Savinykh, Chief of the Information Office of Belarus's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
“It is obvious that he is living in some parallel, virtual reality.”
Sikorski, one of the most prominent European voices in condemning President Alexander Lukashenko's (pictured) regime, especially since the disputed presidential elections last December which saw him returned for a fourth term in office, made his most recent comments on the country in an interview with the Financial Times.
Minister Sikorski suggested that rather than following the current example of Libya and some of the other North African regimes – which cling to power by using force and arrests of opposition figures – Belarus's leader would be better to take a leaf out of the Polish book, citing the bloodless revolution of 1989 in which the communists were forced to relinquish power peacefully in the face of the Solidarity trade union mass movement.
“It would be better for him not to learn from Mubarak or Gadaffi but from General Jaruzelski's 1989 example,” Sikorski said.
“The cause of Belarus's economic hardships and political isolation is the system of 'Lukanomics' in the economy and the political sphere,” he said, referring to the mess the Belarusian economy currently faces, brought on by President Lukashenko’s state command economy and political authoritarianism.
“So I believe that the subject for discussion with Mr Lukashenko is Belarus's transition to democracy and his own orderly departure from power,” Poland’s foreign minister added.
Poland has been leading calls for the European Union to tighten the screw on the Lukashenko regime by imposing stricter sanctions against Minsk.
The EU responded to the mass arrests that followed what the international community regard as rigged elections last year by slapping visa bans on members of the regime in Minsk and freezing assets.
But Poland, which initiated the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme – which aims to bring ex-Soviet states closer to western structures – wants Brussels to go further, but without isolating the Belarusian people.
“Belarus should appreciate the fact that we have not kicked it out from the Eastern Partnership, given what they have been doing since December 19,” Sikorski said last month.
The issue will be further discussed in September when Poland hosts the eastern Partnership summit as part of the nation’s six-month presidency of the European Council. (pg/ng)