Political Analyst: Lukashenka's Scandalous Decree Will Collapse The System

The Belarusians will return their property at the expense of the property of the dictator and the executors of his insane “laws”.

Lukashenka's scandalous decree was published today, prohibiting obtaining passports abroad and making real estate transactions while not in Belarus.

Why did the dictator issue this decree now? The website Charter97.org asked the political scientist Dzmitry Balkunts about this.

— This is Lukashenka's personal pain in relation to the citizens who opposed him. He still can't come to terms with it. Lukashenka believes that he has leverage to lure those who left the country back to Belarus and punish them. This measure was taken deliberately so that the Belarusians would find themselves in a difficult situation. Especially those whose passport expires, so that they experience inconvenience and maybe even “repent”.

In fact, this has already happened in world practice. What Lukashenka did generally resembles a similar way to deprive somebody of citizenship. In practice, this was used by fascist dictatorships, for example, under Hitler or the Vichy regime in France. They even deprived Charles de Gaulle of citizenship, which did not prevent him from becoming president of France later.

Lukashenka also plans to deprive Belarusians of citizenship. This is apparently one of the attempts to do this in an unconventional way. Lukashenka will leave, and the shame that he now personifies will remain with him and the officials who do this.

I would like to add that a group of citizens who are now living abroad and calling themselves “leaders of the Belarusian opposition” are trying to earn political points on this. They come up with a story with an “alternative passport”. This is pure fraud, which is aimed, among other things, at the possible receipt of financial resources. This passport cannot have any international recognition.

Due to the fact that, firstly, it is done by private individuals. Secondly, there are many questions regarding the preservation of databases, their verification, how consular services will be provided, and so on.

In this regard, those who naively believe that if someone drew the design of a passport, then this means that the passport will work, are being deceived. It will be possible to buy as a souvenir, but nothing more.

Finding such a passport in the pocket of citizens can be dangerous. It is possible that the lists of those who want to receive such a passport will end up in the hands of Lukashenka's regime, which will give him grounds to deprive those who received such documents of citizenship.

If someone is abroad and their passport expires, then it is best to contact the local authorities in the host country and ask for the relevant documents that can be obtained in such cases.

— How do you assess the consequences of this decree, what other difficulties may arise for the Belarusians?

— Firstly, those who run out of passports will face difficulties. The expiration date of a passport can be a barrier to accessing services or moving abroad. As for people who have left the country and have some kind of real estate in Belarus or other assets, they may have problems with their management.

In fact, this is an attempt to take revenge on the Belarusians, which can lead, among other things, to the collapse of the system. For example, a person's power of attorney to manage property in Minsk ends. In this regard, those who managed this property will not be able to pay for utilities. Who benefits from this?

I think those madmen who prepared this law could not appreciate all the consequences. After all, this concerns not one person, but hundreds of thousands of Belarusians who are abroad. In such a situation, I believe that Lukashenka will make even more enemies for himself. After all, it will not only be holders of passports, but also children, parents, other relatives and friends. Lukashenka repeats the same mistakes every time. These are things that seriously harm the interests of citizens.

Every time he tries to find some problem to make the life of Belarusians worse. In any case, sooner or later, this will come back to haunt him or his family. Even if even today he feels well, taking droppers and pills, but this does not give him the opportunity to act like this in the long run.

— How should Belarusians act in this situation in order to protect their property and the right to legal stay abroad? Maybe there is some way out of the situation or loopholes?

— I think that there should not be any special problems with legal stay abroad. In the EU countries, this problem, in my opinion, is regulated. There is experience in issuing Geneva passports.

However, there are many Belarusians who live in Australia, the USA, New Zealand and have not been to Belarus for many years, but they keep their passport. In order for them to receive a document, they will have to go to Belarus. The madness of the Belarusian state in this regard is very characterized by all sorts of harmful things for citizens.

You can protect property through the court. In any case, even if now the authorities will somehow engage in nasty things and create chaos with illegal confiscation of property, I am absolutely convinced that sooner or later it will be returned. From the salaries, pensions and property of the people who do this, the damage caused to other Belarusians will be compensated. This has happened many times in history, and citizens received the necessary compensation.