Belarus migrant: tyrant’s days are numbered

Inna Mitelman never thought she would see her homeland being torn apart again.

‘They need to pull this off’: Belarusian migrant Inna Mitelman, in Melbourne with her children Gabriel, 18 months, and Mickey, 12. Picture: Aaron Francis

After growing up in the shadow of Chernobyl and witnessing the notorious­ meltdown of the city’s nuclear reactor, Inna Mitelman never thought she would see her homeland being torn apart again.

Instead, the Melbourne mother of two now finds herself watching another kind of deadly power struggle from afar, as Europe’s longest-serving autocrat desperately tries to maintain his reign.

Alexander Luka­shenko has ruled the former Soviet republic of Belarus with an iron fist for most of its 30 years of independ­ence. But, like most members of Australia’s Belarusian community, Ms Mitelman hopes “Europe­’s last dictator” may have finally overreached.

“Lukashenko’s days are numbered,” she told The Australian. “There’s hope, there’s pride, but they need to pull this off.’’

Mr Lukashenko has jailed his rivals, shunned observers­ and unleashed a crackdown on peaceful protesters after he claimed to have won 80 per cent of the vote in the country’s presidential election on August 9.

More than 6700 people have been arrested, hundreds wounded and two people have died in the crackdown. Many detainees have emerged from prison with horrific accounts of beatings and torture.

“Peaceful protesters are being tortured, beaten, and raped and they are being torn to shreds in the middle of Europe in the 21st century,” Ms Mitelman said.

In the capital, Minsk, protesters gathered for a 10th day on Wednesday, waving the red and white flag of the opposition, chanting “Leave!” and calling on Mr Lukashenko to resign.

Rather than yielding, the auth­oritarian leader denounced his opponents, including now exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tik­ha­­novskaya as “Nazis” and “tricksters”.

On Wednesday, Mr Lukashenko’s most powerful ally, Russia, signalled it would step in to back the embattled leader if necessary.

Graeme Gill, a professor in Central and Eastern European studies at the University of Sydney, said Belarus was viewed by Moscow as a “buffer state” between­ Russia and the west.

“All he has left to stand on is the state machinery and that boils down to the police and military. At this stage, we don’t know which way they will go.”

The leaders of Germany, France and the EU spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, urging him to ease tensions in Bel­arus. But Mr Putin reportedly told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that any attempts to interfere in the ex-Soviet country “would be unacceptable”.

“Putin could send in undercover forces, as he did in Crimea, but even that is dangerous given Belarus is right in the heart of Europe­,” Professor Gill said. “The EU would welcome a ‘democratic’ Belarus but any change of regime has implications for the Russian and European relationship.”

Moscow would view efforts by the EU to establish friendly relations with Belarus as a hostile act designed to strip away a key buffer between Russia and the West. Professor Gill said the Morrison government should “at a minimum” advocate for fair elections.