On Tuesday 5 June, Natalia Radzina, the editor-in-chief of Belarusian website Charter'97, told EUROPE that the EU should make discussions with the Belarusian authorities subject to strict conditions.
"Strict conditionality is needed. Dialogue is only possible under conditions and the very first of these is the holding of free elections", without which there will be no real change, she said on the sidelines of a conference organised by the European Parliament's EPP Group. "More help is needed for the democratic opposition, the free media and civil society", she added. Her website, Charter'97, has been blocked by the Belarusian authorities since 24 January.
"The situation in Belarus has not changed", Radzina said. "From the EU's point of view, for the bureaucrats, all is fine in Belarus. It's a disaster. It's cynicism. Because the European values are violated", she added. Radzina called on the European representatives – at a time when the European commissioners for neighbourhood policy and the digital agenda will be in her country at the end of June – to call on the Belarusian authorities to lift the blocking of her website.
She painted a dark picture of her country. Although the EU and Minsk announced the launch of a campaign a few days ago called "Together, let's make life better", Radzina believes that in reality it will be "Together, let's block Charter '97. Let's put people in prisons. Let's send them to concentration or work camps".
Radzina believes it naive to think that by drawing closer to Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko he would distance himself from Russia's President Vladimir Putin. "That's naive because Lukashenko is Putin's puppet", she said. In her view, since her website has been blocked (as have independent radio and television channels), Belarusians have turned to Russian media. "They are ready for a Russian invasion, the most popular politician in Belarus is Putin. And when people see the Europeans meet Lukashenko, they begin to realise that the EU will not help them put an end to the dictatorship and they start to put their hope in Putin, and that's dangerous", she warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)