"Two Things Are Extremely Important For Lukashenko Today"

• 21.04.2026, 10:54

What's behind the dictator's militaristic tantrum.

The editor-in-chief of Charter97.org Natalya Radina believes that Lukashenko, threatening war, wants to achieve the removal of sanctions from his regime. The Belarusian journalist told about it in an interview to Ukrainian Radio NV:

- Actually, two things are extremely important for Lukashenko today. First, to stay in power himself. This is not easy, given that the Belarusian people are completely disloyal to the dictator. Today Lukashenko holds on to power solely by force. He needs resources to maintain all the punitive structures that exist in Belarus today and terrorize the population. This money is given to Lukashenko by Russia.

The second point that is extremely important to him is the lifting of Western sanctions, which were imposed both in 2020, after the suppression of the people's revolution, and in 2022, after the Belarusian regime entered the war against Ukraine. And today he is trying through talks with President Trump, through flirting with the United States, through threats to Ukraine, through threats to European countries, to bargain for the lifting of sanctions.