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WIf Maria Kolesnikova had been arrested by the police, the Belarusian regime would have confirmed her well-known position: no interest in any form of dialogue with the opposition. But Kolesnikova was not arrested, she was dragged into a minibus in broad daylight by masked men in plain clothes in the middle of Minsk and then disappeared. The authorities denied having detained her. That is an even worse message from Aleksandr Lukashenkas: With the kidnapping of the most important leader of the peaceful riot that still remains in the country, the regime has announced a fight in which the last inhibitions have fallen.
Lukashenka made his opponents disappear and, with some certainty, they murdered when he established his dictatorship some twenty years ago. He kept reminding his opponents of this with all sorts of allusions, among other things to the supposed leader of the death squad colliding with them as if by chance. It is certainly not by chance that the regime has made this former commander of a special police unit appear in public several times in recent weeks. This raises fears of the worst for the fate of Kolesnikova and other activists from the opposition Coordinating Council who disappeared on Monday.
The brutality with which plainclothes thugs pursued people on Sunday night as they returned home after the rally in Minsk could ultimately be a prelude to something worse. A regime that is ready for anything (with a willing ally in Moscow) can no longer be stopped by appeals, convictions and EU sanctions. However, it is important that the EU now use very clear words and decide quickly on sanctions that also include Lukashenka. If there are hardly any other means to support the people of Belarus, at least you have to give them moral support.
