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The painting of the Jewish expressionist painter Chaim Soutine fell into the whirlwind of a political tsunami. The banker who acquired it in 2013 – for a modest 1.8 million. at the New York auction, trying to run for president to end Lukashenko’s 26-year term.
Viktor Babarik, CEO of Belgazprombank of Belarus, a bank owned by Russian natural gas giant Gazprom PJSC and Gazprombank JSC, has spent a decade searching for paintings by Belarusian-born artists to take home and display to the public. In May, he left a position at the bank to announce his candidacy on August 9. elections on June 18. He was arrested during a state security service inspection for tax evasion and money laundering.
Just before his arrest, authorities also confiscated 20 million. a collection of art in dollars, which V. Babariko kept in the gallery of the bank in the capital, Minsk. When the protests erupted, social media exploded alongside Eva’s portrait, and more and more people began wearing her image on their shirts.
Since 1994 he came to power, Lukashenko regularly closes public discontent and keeps the institutions and security services of the former Soviet republic in an iron fist. Although Lukashenko’s defeat in the sixth-term presidential election seems almost incomprehensible, this time he faces unusually strong opposition to complain about a “foreign” conspiracy that is supposed to lead to a revolution.
In Belarus, there is a growing awareness that significant changes are imminent. 9.4 million The people’s country that borders Russia, Ukraine and the European Union has been known for its political obedience. Strategically located between Russia and the countries that belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, Belarus risks becoming the last field of geopolitical struggle between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the West.
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Lukashenko’s previous decline in popularity has not coincided with “elections, an economic recession, a coronavirus pandemic and a lack of money to defend himself against angry voters, which is why people are becoming politically active,” said Artiomas Šraibman. , founder of Sense Analytics, a Minsk-based political consulting firm. He says the government is doing everything possible to quell the current wave of discontent ahead of the August elections.
The long-held belief that many opponents have long argued that Lukashenko would win free and fair elections if they were ever held is no longer taken for granted.
Protest slogans announce “3%” and “We are 97%” after online polls (very selectively) found the president’s minimal popularity. In a recent personal confrontation with a group of opposition protesters, Lukashenko asked them to stop using “3%”, saying the figure was clearly false.
Another assumption, now also in doubt, was that Belarusians would never take to the streets to overthrow the leader, as other former Soviet nations, from Armenia to Ukraine, had done since regaining independence in 1991.
Actress Julia Shevchiuk said she lacked patience when Eva and other paintings on the walls of the Belgazprombank gallery were replaced by posters with QR codes. Hee Shrugged Ch. Soutine’s portrait was also uploaded to Facebook by an imaging app. Now Eva points her middle finger.
“It was so difficult for me to observe all this illegal behavior, it is so painful to see that people and the country have appropriated a person,” says J. Ševčiuk. Eva’s portrait began to spread: other Belarusian internet users portrayed her behind bars, dressed in a prison uniform or taken out by the security services (the main branch is still called the KGB).
After Babarik’s arrest, Lukashenko hinted that the opponent’s candidacy had been nominated by Russian circles hostile to him. This statement was reinforced by the fact that before the elections in Belarus, the arrest of presidential opponents became common, even if in the past they were accused of being in contact with western states and not with Russia.
“Someone imagines that Belarusians are his servants that can be elaborated,” Babarik said in a video before being arrested along with his son, who helped the campaign. He denies any ties to Moscow.
Another change: This time, the President is outraged not just by ordinary middle-class citizens.
Another major electoral challenge for Lukashenko comes from blogger Sergei Tikhonovsky, who calls Lukashenko a cockroach, a well-known Soviet-era children’s poem in which he terrorizes the animal kingdom. Tikhonovsky toured communities living in small Belarusian cities that are traditionally loyal to the president by tying a giant slipper to the cockroach that crushes the roof of a car.
He was jailed before he could officially register his electoral campaign team. His wife Svetlana is now trying to register and direct the staff on her behalf. On June 16, she published an emotional video alleging that her children were threatened if she did not leave the competition.
Lukashenko has been trying to put out fires for some time. First, a dispute arose with Russia last year, demanding that it agree to a closer political union in exchange for economic support, including cheaper oil and gas. These de facto subsidies for more than a quarter of a century enabled him to avoid the tedious post-Soviet economic reforms that contributed to political unrest in other countries.
Both countries continue to argue about the price of natural gas: Russia practically cut off oil supplies in January, and Belarus had to find alternative suppliers in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Norway.
Belarus has developed a profitable industry by processing cheap Russian raw materials for export at world market prices, but revenues from oil sales in the first four years of 2020. months fell 62% due to falling general demand for oil. In the face of the economic downturn, Lukashenko replaced his prime minister as chief of defense this month, announcing a military mobilization for an economy facing many challenges.
Vodka and saunas
For some, Lukashenko’s approach to the coronavirus outbreak became the last straw. Belarus has never quarantined and allowed people to choose whether to wear masks and isolate themselves or live as usual. The President has consistently downplayed the risk, while claiming that vodka and baths are the best cure for the disease, and insisted on holding a military parade on May 9 to mark the end of World War II, despite that Russia has postponed its own.
Babariko spoke about the economic situation and warned that Belarus had become so dependent on external aid that it could soon lose its independence. It also offered the possibility of seeking military neutrality for a country that currently belongs to the Defense Alliance with Russia (the Collective Security Treaty Organization). In his electoral campaign, he pledges to revive the public sector, support private companies and restore the balance of power between the different branches of government.
The nation, which seeks to avoid military actions with Moscow at all costs as seen in Ukraine, has had little effect on Lukashenko’s image of Babarik as a puppet controlled by external forces. There are no reliable public opinion polls in Belarus, making it difficult to measure the true level of support for a candidate. However, Babariko quickly collected 435,000 signatures to register his candidacy, more than four times the required amount.
Lukashenko himself has always emphasized the importance of Russia as a strategic ally, even in times of tension. He and Putin saw in Moscow on June 24. However, the World War II parade returned immediately, accusing Russia of interfering in his country’s elections. The accusation was rejected by the Kremlin.
Now that Babariko is separated from the world and unable to continue his campaign, his team asked the Belarusians to show their support and that of other detainees by sending letters to the prison. The invitation posted on Instagram was illustrated with a postcard with an image of Eva.
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