- — He besides commented that we should take care of our own affairs, the elections in Poland, which are in May, not those in Belarus, and in short, that we should get distant from Putin and that he himself does not realize what Sikorski wants from Putin," added Sygacz
- As the most curiosistic charge against Poland, the writer considered the words that our country has the temptations to invade western Belarus as far as Minsk and Western Ukraine, and we arm ourselves only to invade these areas. — I said briefly: Poland does not want to attack Belarus or Ukraine
- Alexander Lukashenko's dictatorial power in Belarus has been in his hand for 31 years, and in the January elections for the seventh time, he became president with the consequence of 86.8% of the vote of support announced by the authorities
- More articles like this can be found on the Onetu homepage
Sikorski's entry against Lukashenko
— Have you already told Radosław Sikorski not to stick his nose where they don't ask him?
“No, I don’t communicate with Sikorski,” laughs Marek Sygacz, a abroad correspondent for the “Events” of the Polsat, who watched the presidential elections in Belarus on Sunday and was 1 of about 60 journalists present at the press conference of Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk. “This entry on the X portal has created mixed feelings for me, especially since we are inactive trying to settle things with Belarus as Poland, I am talking about Andrzej Poczoput, the Union of Poles in Belarus and all about Poles,” the writer tells us.
She notes that during the press conference immediately after the exchange of views with Lukashenko, the entry of the Polish abroad Minister was immediately utilized and his words were publically read by the president of Belarus.
EPA/BELARUS president PRESS-SERVICE / PAPAlexander Lukashenko at a press conference in Minsk, 26.01.2025
Sikorski wrote: “I ask the media not to call Alexander Lukashenko the last dictator of Europe due to the fact that it is not fair. In theft, repression and global aggression Vladimir Putin caught up with him and chased him away."
Lukashenko immediately criticized Sikorski for “tagging Russia and Putin.” “Sikorski is an experienced person. We met him, talked to him. Let him think what happens tomorrow. Today, Polish peasants were expelled under the Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs, and tomorrow? Let Sikorski know that he does not stick his nose where he is not asked," said the president of Belarus, addressing a Polish journalist.
— He besides commented that we should take care of our own affairs, the elections in Poland, which are in May and not those in Belarus, and in short, that we should get distant from Putin and that he himself does not realize what Sikorski wants from Putin," added Sygacz.
Journalist as a shield on charges
Aleksander Lukashenko had previously accused Poland of pursuing aggressive policies towards Belarus and Ukraine. He accused Warsaw of buying weapons for the intent of alleged assault on its neighbours. Then the only typical of Polish media present at the Sunday conference of the president of Belarus powerfully denied these accusations. Sygacz asked Lukashenko about the situation on our common border, “where dozens of people effort to enter Poland illegally all day. Our Border defender informs us that there are dangerous people among them. A Polish soldier died there recently. What can you as the head of state and intend to do to solve this problem?"
The question about the border "a small warmed up Lukashenko" was besides waiting for specified questions. Sygacz believes that this was a highly strategical conference so that journalists from the West would ask hard questions to give the president of Belarus the chance to comment on the topics presenting his view of the global situation so that he could criticize it and hit it west.
EPA/BELARUS president PRESS-SERVICE / PAPAleksander Lukashenko met with journalists after the vote, Minsk 26.01.2025
And so was Lukashenko's answer to his question. “This was a full array of charges, and at that minute I felt like a shield with the inscription “Poland”, which he throws and throws more darts into. From the border, through abroad policy, through Ukraine, sanctions. All the complaints that were to Poland were focused on 1 of my humble people.
Sygacz besides watched the reactions of Russian, Belarusian and another favorable journalists gathered in the hall. — It was honey for their ears — and he knew that this message would go on. “I knew that if I didn’t say anything, it would mean that I signed on and accept uncritically. It was specified a long list of bullshit, I had to react.
“Mark, give God”
And as the most curiosistic charge against Poland, the writer considered the words that our country has the temptations to invade western Belarus as far as Minsk and Western Ukraine, and we will arm ourselves only to invade these areas. “I said briefly: Poland does not want to attack Belarus or Ukraine.
Marek Sygacz / Private ArchivesAlexander Lukashenka press conference in Minsk, 26.01.2025
“ Mark, God forbid,” said Lukashenko, “but why do you request Korean tanks? Buy tractors alternatively of tanks," he asked again.
The Polish writer froze how Russian and Belarusian journalists were reacting at this point, which was besides evidence that this is the authoritative message of Lukashenko that "we are the number 1 enemy to Belarus, presented as an aggressor who seeks to start a war." “Lukeshenko simply said in the context of the border that if you are imposing sanctions on us, why should we defend you, by default, against migrants.
During this Sunday’s meeting, Sygacz saw Lukashenko with media representatives that 3 journalists had asked him problematic questions, and the overwhelming majority, mostly journalists of Belarusian media, thanked, congratulated, asked him about the general themes. “When individual asked him about Umka, due to the fact that he appeared at the vote with a pole, he had already vanished, and he likes to talk a lot, wide, quack and colorfully,” says the writer Polsat.
Henadz Zhinkov/Xinhua / PAPAleksander Lukashenko during the presidential election vote
“Ignition” erstwhile talking about Belarus
Does Lukashenko himself believe in this anti-Polish propaganda, which he willingly spreads and is sold to the media?
— Those words were so pyramidal, I don't think he believed it. It's an authoritative message that people gotta believe, and it's designed to distract and distract from what's happening around Ukraine and in the east. It's a communicative that comes out of Minsk and the Kremlin that the West is an aggressor and initiator of everything that happens. This is well thought out and prepared — the writer adds that Belarusian citizens believe it, although it is not as isolated as North Korea and have access to information from outside.
However, in the very imagination of Belarus, according to Sigach, Lukashenko truly believes. As a dictator, he's inactive an thought man. He does what he believes and you can see it after he talks about Belarus. It “fires” erstwhile it talks about what it wants to change and what its country will look like.
Marek Sygacz / Private ArchivesElection No. 1 at the Belarusian State Physical Culture University in Minsk
West in the eyes of the east dictator
From a Sunday press conference in Minsk, writer Marek Sygacz besides observed how Lukashenko referred to planet politicians. While he spoke with respect and expressed his admiration that he had avoided death during the assassination, he taunted erstwhile he spoke of Polish leaders. Andrzej Duda and Radosław Sikorski replied: “Who is the president in Poland? That Duda, right? Or, who's the diplomatic minister there? any Sikorski, right?”
The writer sees this way of talking to the leader of Belarus as an ostensibly disrespectful attitude. “Lukaszenko knows precisely who the president of Poland and head of the MFA are. He is not a stupid man, as we would like to see him in Poland, and that was the impression I had of the fewer hours I spent in his company," says Sygacz, and it was his first visit to Belarus and his first gathering with her president. “He has an amazing ability to connect and scope out to the listener, even this speaking to journalists by name during the conference,” the correspondent explains that in the east there is simply a regulation of speaking to the interviewer by name as “You Mark”, and the name is the equivalent of the word “Mr.”
Elections in the country of ‘Baćki’
When he set up the camera in front of the Republic Palace, where the Central Election Commission (CKW) office is located to study on Sunday's presidential election, they immediately appeared uniforms from various departments and checked all his documents. In his relations, he tried to talk straight about what was happening in Belarus, but carefully adequate not to usage words that would provoke individual to be stripped of accreditation.
He wanted to see what the current Belarusian planet looked like up close. He spent a week there. A fewer days before the election, he watched the final performance of the action “The Unity Marathon”, a powerful spectacle with artistic shows to show the unity of the Belarusian people. "The Marathon of Unity" visited 16 cities. During the final in Minsk, Marek Sygacz first heard Alexander Lukashenko talk Belarusian in the first part of his speech. “This was a pre-election rally with the central figure of the nation’s father, for “Bazek” is simply a father.
He watched the voters at the polling station at the university where Lukashenko voted and everything was prepared for journalists there. — Voting and plebiscites in the East is simply a festival, a vacation in the polling place. too being urns and voting, these are besides regional products, meat, sausage, sweets. In our country, polling stations are dressed up, and voters are fed in different ways, says the journalist.
Henadz Zhinkov/Xinhua / PAPVoters at Minsk Election Station, 26.01.2025
Solemn extension
The vote itself in the Belarusian presidential election is just a formality and "a charming extension for Lukashenko". Sygach did not see any real countercandidates on the ballot card. He believes it will be hard to defend the thesis that these elections were falsified due to the fact that they did not should be due to the fact that the election process was so constructed that Lukashenko had no 1 to lose to. He besides invited hundreds of journalists due to the fact that he wanted to show their course at the raised curtain. He invited about 500 abroad observers — a colorful crowd of people from different continents who appeared at the CKW press conferences — various skin colors and different outfits.
There were besides election observers from Poland in Minsk. He saw Krzysztof Tołwiński, a erstwhile MP and deputy minister in the government of Jarosław Kaczyński, known for his pro-Russian and pro-Lukashenko sympathy. For erstwhile justice Tomasz Szmydt, who fled to Belarus in May 2024 and on Sunday was hanging out at the polling station, the writer came across twice. Earlier, he heard from Lukashenko at the conference that “he is to perceive to what justice Szmydt says due to the fact that he knows better”.
