Павел Латушко. Фото: ОПК
A round table between Belarusian democratic forces and the authorities could resolve the issue of power transition and avert a scenario of state system collapse, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet Paval Latushka said in an interview with the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita.
“Refusal to resolve the crisis internally and to engage in dialogue may lead to the country’s fate becoming dependent on external factors. And the most dangerous of these is Russia,” Latushka noted.
He stressed that despite signals from Donald Trump to Lukashenka, repression in Belarus is intensifying.
“In 2025, according to the human rights center Viasna, Lukashenka pardoned 342 people. At the same time, 509 people were recognized as political prisoners, and 189 were deported. Thus, we are dealing with reverse statistics. Repression is not stopping — on the contrary, it is intensifying. At least 1,200 prisoners of conscience remain in prisons,” the politician said.
Latushka believes that the United States may grow tired of negotiations with Lukashenka and resort to other instruments of pressure.
“Lukashenka is deceiving the Americans. And, as I believe, the Americans are not naïve. One must remain realistic: there will be no operation to extract Lukashenka from Minsk. However, at some point the Americans may become tired of these talks. They may get fed up with such a game, and then they will resort to other instruments of pressure on Lukashenka,” Latushka said.
According to the Deputy Head of the UTC, a national dialogue and a round table could provide a solution to the problem of power transition.
“A round table could become the solution to the problem of power transition. This is the most promising opportunity for our country to return to normal life in a civilized manner. Such a path would make it possible to lift sanctions and restore foreign investment, avoid a scenario of uncontrolled collapse of the state system, and ensure a planned, democratic transition of power without upheavals.
We know that Lukashenka does not want to talk and has never been and is not ready for dialogue with the opposition. However, we perfectly understand that the elites around Lukashenka are not homogeneous. Most representatives of the system formed around him stand for preserving the country’s independence and statehood. They must realize that after Lukashenka’s departure they may lose everything. They have seen what happened in Caracas. Refusal to resolve the crisis internally and to engage in dialogue may lead to the country’s fate becoming dependent on external factors. And the most dangerous of these is Russia,”