EUROPEAN UNION CHIDED FOR CONCESSION TO LUKASHENKA.

The European Union’s cave-in to the Belarusan authorities in the Drazdy diplomatic dispute (see the Monitor, December 11) has dismayed the democratic opposition. According to a statement of the Belarusan Popular Front, the EU’s concession is “groundless and untimely” against a background of growing social protests against the regime of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. “In this situation, the only language in addressing the regime should be the language of specific demands: observance of international agreements, compliance with the [1994] constitution, liberalization of the economy. Other approaches only strengthen the dictatorship and its sense of impunity” (Belapan, December 14).

Lukashenka had evicted Western and pro-Western missions from the Drazdy compound last June and appropriated the grounds, triggering an international diplomatic scandal. Last week the EU broke ranks with the United States and agreed to settle the dispute essentially on Lukashenka’s terms. The authorities are now exploiting this unexpected success in their internal propaganda.

HEAVY FINES IMPOSED ON AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PRESS.