mr president the fact that in belarus president lukashenko's secret police is still called the kgb tells us all that we need to know about his mentality and methods
twenty years after the collapse of the soviet union he remains the archetypal a strong man whose addiction to power is as strong as his instincts for crushing dissent
lukashenko used the kgb or uses the kgb as a political tool to silence the popular protest including the cases of ales mikhalevich and natalia radina that followed yet another disappointingly rigged presidential election in december last year
more than seven hundred people were arrested
stories abound of opposition activists being abducted detained extrajudicially and then tortured mentally and psychologically by the kgb
belarus matters to us so much because it is a european country and has become a cuba on our own doorstep
if the eu is to have any moral force in the world with regard to promoting democracy human rights and the rule of law it must surely start in europe itself our own continent
i do not dispute the need to engage with the lukashenko regime
an empty chair policy would be counter-productive with the eu but we need to increase support to the opposition in belarus and tighten eu smart sanctions on lukashenko and his kgb cronies
