Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko take a break during a match of the Night Hockey League teams in Rosa Khutor in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, February 7, 2020. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Reuters: Putin bets on Lukashenko keeping power in Belarus for now: sources
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko will probably cling to power for now despite protests against him and is content to let him sweat it out, two sources close to the Kremlin said.
Lukashenko, a long-standing but truculent Moscow ally, has been buffeted by nearly two weeks of street protests which have loosened his grip on power in a country many Russians regard as another Russian region in all but name.
That, the two sources said, suits the Kremlin. It is keen to deal with a weakened Lukashenko who has resisted and sometimes publicly railed against Moscow’s offers of deeper political and economic integration.
“They’ll be happy to wait a while and watch him struggle a bit. They don’t like him much, but they still back him,” said one of the sources, who regularly speaks to senior government and Kremlin officials.
The second source said a diminished Lukashenko would suit the Kremlin’s needs.
“Lukashenko will be critically weakened. You’ll be able to make mince meat out of him. Our guys will definitely use this.”
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WNU Editor: A direct Russian intervention in Belarus would only make the situation worse. This is a crisis that only the Belarusians can resolve.
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