Łukašenka commends security forces, calls on officials to let those who fled return

January 24, BPN. At his January 24 meeting with senior officials in Minsk, Alaksandr Łukašenka seemingly tried to balance security forces’ interests with technocrats’ apparent urge to address the brain drain issue.

He invited officials to discuss the fate of Belarusian emigrants who are “afraid to go back or who ask me for a pardon,” his press office quoted him as saying. “I feel that a section of our society has a demand for this.”

“Those who are willing to live in peace, to create for the good of their country, should not be rejected by society . . . We should make a step to meet them halfway, those who stumbled but have changed their mind, not to shut our door on them,” he continued. He indicated that the door should be open only to “those who come back from prisons or abroad to be even bigger ‘jabaćkas’ [a derogatory word for Łukašenka’s stalwarts] than those surrounding us today.”

Łukašenka also paid tribute to security forces. He said they played an important role in suppressing the 2020 protests: “The opinion of my guys serving in special units today is very important to me. The military men who we brought in to restore order. The internal troops who stood their ground to death. Of course, I respect them immeasurably, I commend them and I take their opinion into account.”

He stressed that both military and civil servants must be tough in defending the country and rule of law, but should prioritize state interests over personal grudges and make concessions, if necessary.