On December 15, the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held a press conference on the program of economic pressure on the regime and support of the people of Belarus. The speakers were Ales Aliakhnovich, Tsikhanouskaya's economic representative, political advisor Alexander Dabravolski, Pavel Latushka, member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council, and the head of NAM, and representative of NAM for economics and finance Jauheni Bury.
On behalf of the Office of Tsikhanouskaya, Ales Aliakhnovich presented seven domains of economic pressure, in which work is now underway and will expand:
1. Internal sanctions. Restriction by Belarusians of purchases of goods and services from companies that repress employees and support the regime. Restrictions on payments to the state, including taxes and purchases of the main excisable goods – alcohol and tobacco products.
2. Investigation and limitation of corruption schemes for the supply of goods from Belarus by private companies supported by the regime. It includes the EU and US sanctions against the “wallets” of the regime.
3. Freezing of cooperation with the public sector. The EBRD, IMF, EIB, World Bank should suspend relations with the regime by the EBRD, IMF, EIB, World Bank in favor of cooperation with the civil society of Belarus.
4. Termination of international cooperation and financing for Belarusian state banks. Limitation of lines of credit from international banks for subsidiary banks within the country.
5. Closure of international financial markets for the issue of new government bonds. Informing the international community about how the regime is violating the basic economic rights of Belarusians – for example, by blocking accounts that received assistance from solidarity funds. Launch of a discussion on revising the payment of government bonds issued by the regime after August 9, 2020.
6. Restricting the export of key state-owned enterprises, where employees are being repressed. It includes such companies as Yara in Norway, one of the ten main clients of Belaruskali.
7. Preventing foreign investments, both from enterprises and other states.
If these mechanisms do not work, and the repressions continue, the disconnection of Belarusian state-owned banks from the SWIFT system may be applied. This is the most radical type of sanctions. Therefore the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya considered it necessary to conduct a public opinion poll on this issue. 406,000 people voted on the Golos platform, of which 64.1% were in favor of disconnecting from the SWIFT system, 19.3% could not answer “for” or “against”. And another 16.6% voted against it. The ratio of those who are “for” and “against” is 4 to 1. It is also important that if several hundred thousand Belarusians are ready for the most severe pressure measure, then even more Belarusians support targeted sanctions.
In addition to working on pressure, the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other democratic forces are developing a program of assistance to Belarusians. It includes, among other things, the Digital Solidarity initiative, which allows you to provide financial aid to the victims, and in the future in the search for work, educational institutions and the exchange of goods and services. Also, solidarity funds continue their work, which is actively supported by Belarusians from the diasporas around the world. Several dozen Belarusian students have already been able to continue their studies at universities in other countries, both remotely and on campus. Furthermore, Tsikhanouskaya's Office is already developing a full-fledged economic program for Belarus, an assistance program for the transition period and is discovering new investments. For example, the European Commission adopted a €24 million assistance package, which will benefit directly the Belarusian people.
Pavel Latushka and Jauheni Bury, on behalf of NAM, added that they support the Tsikhanouskaya's Office program and have already launched the Economic and Financial Plan. It also includes measures for economic pressure on the regime and works in partnership with the “Krama“, “Za delo” initiatives and others.
Pavel Latushka noted that all agreements with creditors signed by the illegitimate government after November 5, 2020 will be revised by the leadership of New Belarus. The new government will not consider itself obligated to pay Lukashenka's debts.
He also said that foreign financial, credit and banking institutions need to stop funding the illegitimate government and repression of the Belarusian people. All creditors are offered to:
1. Check the intended use of credit resources;
2. Require early and immediate fulfillment of credit obligations;
3. Prohibit the extension of loan agreements.
Latushka stressed that it is not the Belarusian people who are to blame for applying the sanctions, but the exclusively illegitimate government, which does not want to comply with basic international principles, does not comply with national legislation, and grossly violates the rights and freedoms of Belarusians.
Political advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Alexander Dabravolski added that “now there is one problem in Belarus — the thirst for power of one person. He lost the elections but is trying to keep grip on power against the will of the voters, which creates obstacles to the country's development. When he leaves, the obstacles will disappear. It is important to remember that all pressure mechanisms are launched not against the people of Belarus, but against this particular person who has stopped listening to the people.”
