Merezhko: US restrains Lukashenko with "carrots and sticks" to prevent him from becoming completely dependent on Putin
Alexander Lukashenko (Photo: EPA)

The US is trying to restrain the dictator Alexander Lukashenko "carrot and stick" to prevent Belarus from becoming 100% dependent on the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. About in analysis for LIGA.net said Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy, commenting on the lifting of sanctions against the national Belarusian airline Belavia.

Merezhko suggests that this may be related to the West 2025 military exercises between Russia and Belarus.

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"So that this (military exercises – ed.) does not turn into a new escalation or a new wave of aggression, perhaps not only against Ukraine but against other countries," the expert explains.

He also adds that from a political point of view, the lifting of restrictions is a step towards quasi-legitimizing the Lukashenko regime and its actions.

"Lukashenko wants to survive as a politician, and he wants to remain a feudal lord in his fiefdom. He wants to be an independent dictator independent of another dictator. Therefore, he is trying to somehow maneuver between Putin and the West," the head of the parliamentary committee said.

Merezhko adds that the United States may have bought into these signals, but in reality Lukashenko depends on Putin.

"Its intelligence services and military leadership are saturated with Russians, its economic dependence is absolute. But there is a game going on. Lukashenko is trying to create the illusion of his own independence, and for some reason the United States wants to believe it," he concluded.