Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-09-09-Speech-3-726-000"
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"en.20150909.41.3-726-000"2
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"Madam President, having already passed the 20-year mark in office, Lukashenko will no doubt do whatever it takes next month in the elections to win his sixth mandate as President. Lukashenko has been a key ally in Putin’s expansionist plans for Russia and has led Belarus to becoming one of the founding members of the Eurasian Union.
The crisis in Ukraine has confirmed the true level of Putin’s ambitions, and those ambitions were confirmed not just to EU Member States but also to Belarus and Kazakhstan. The EU should, of course, be open to a new political direction for Belarus, and we must leave the door ajar diplomatically. We should not, however, lull ourselves into the false pretence that Lukashenko is a democrat or interested in anything other than achieving his own political survival.
As the report suggests, the fighting in Ukraine is now at its lowest level, and we must thank the Minsk agreement – in part brokered by him – as a way of beginning the process of ensuring lasting peace in Ukraine. But Ukraine needs more military and financial support in order to stabilise and ensure that the peace is permanent.
Furthermore, whilst I welcome the release of political prisoners, such gestures do little to alleviate the chronic civil and human rights abuses in Belarus. I remember that 10 years ago I called Belarus the Cuba of Europe, and I am afraid it still remains that today."@en1
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