Interesting Afterword To Expulsion Of Bazanau From Czech Republic

• 9.12.2021, 18:25

Journalists-investigators have received information from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.

The story with the expulsion of the head of the Football Federation of Belarus, Uladzimir Bazanau, from the Czech Republic has a rather interesting afterword. Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) has taken up the case of Colonel Bazanau, writes German-Belarusian historian Aliaksandr Frydman.

BIRN journalists received information from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which confirmed issuance of visas to the Bazanaus, but also emphasized that the visas were issued 1) on May 21, 2021, and 2) at the request of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Switzerland (UEFA headquarters is located there). What is noteworthy about the Hungarian response?

1) Hungary seeks to shift responsibility to UEFA and Switzerland, once again denying accusations of special ties with the toxic Lukashenka regime.

2) It was important for Budapest to emphasize that the Bazanaus received their visa before the Ryanair plane with Raman Pratasevich on board landed in Minsk. After this incident, the conflict between the official Minsk and the EU reached a new level.

The scandal around Bazanau and the Hungarian response cited by BIRN does not bode well for officials from Lukashenka's entourage who are holders of Schengen visas. After the incident with Bazanau, they are likely to be subjected to special scrutiny, and those brave people who attempt to travel to the EU risk repeating the fate of the soccer federation head.