Page 49 - bne magazine September 2021_20210901

bne September 2021 Eastern Europe I 49
key class of potash that makes up 80% of the fertiliser exports was excluded from the sanctions list, as European agriculture remains heavily dependent on Belarusian potash for its business. Brussels has been criticised for not hitting Belarus harder, but justified the decision by saying that it wanted to keep something in reserve for future negotiations with Lukashenko.
Ukraine has also excluded itself from the sanctions regimes as its fragile economy is one of the most heavily dependent
on Belarusian exports for things like fertiliser and diesel fuel. Ukraine’s abstention undermines the effectiveness of the sanctions, as it remains the most important export market for Belarusian products in Europe.
Austrian firms have also been very reluctant to punish Minsk for its crackdown on the Belarusian population that include arbitrary arrests and widespread reports of torture, rape and even extrajudicial murder of protesters.
The EU sanctions imposed in July almost failed after Vienna blocked the vote over fears of hurting its banks that operate
in Minsk. Raiffeisen International owns a large share of Priorbank, the leading commercial bank in the country that has extensive business with the country’s biggest state-owned enterprises (SOEs). A deal was eventually thrashed out and the bank has promised to scale back its operations with the SOEs, but its details remain vague.
During the mass protests last summer the Austrian mobile phone company
A1 that operates in the country collaborated with the state by slowing internet connects to hamper the protest actions, which are heavily dependent on social media for reporting abuses and co-ordinating the actions of crowds.
Vienna remains cautious of damaging its commercial ties with Belarus and is a reluctant participant in the anti- Lukashenko initiatives.
When Belarusian Olympic sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya escaped from her government minders in Tokyo that
were trying forcibly to repatriate her following critical comments she made on social media, initially it was reported that she intended to seek asylum in Austria, but she was clearly rebuffed and accepted a humanitarian visa to Poland instead, where she arrived on August 4. Austria refused to grant her refuge because it feared damaging its commercial ties with Belarus, according to unverified comments posted on social media based on local reports.
Likewise, the Belarusian government has spent millions of dollars on US technology company Sandvine Inc. soft- and hardware that allows them
The invective on state media has
been steadily ratcheted up since
then, with personal attacks on the likes of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya becoming a regular feature of prime-time “reporting.” In one weekly show presenters profile prominent opposition figures they say should be hanged with graphics that include pictures of a noose. In Eastern Europe hanging is the traditional punishment for traitors.
“It's probably no coincidence that head of Belarusian House in Ukraine Vitaliy Shyshov was murdered by hanging. Belarus state television makes weekly
“The EU sanctions imposed in July almost failed after Vienna blocked the vote over fears of hurting its banks that operate in Minsk”
to shut down parts of the internet and block opposition social media channels. The US company ignored its own ethical standard rules that would have precluded the sales to clients that use the product for political repression.
And Czech companies produce many of the munitions used by Belarus’ OMON riot police, particularly the flashbang stun grenades. The EU has a standing ban on selling arms and munitions to Belarus. It is unclear how the flashbangs arrived in Minsk but almost certainly came via a third party arms trader who is importing them to Belarus illegally.
Advertising scandal
Now advertising has come into focus as yet another example of western companies ignoring the plight of the Belarusian population for the sake of their bottom line.
In the early days of the protests the majority of the staff at the state-owned broadcasters walked out in sympathy with the protesters, but Lukashenko quickly flew in staff from Russia’s RT station who restarted broadcasting within a few days and began to churn out anti-protest propaganda.
programmes about "traitors" that must be hanged,” opposition Twitter channel Belarus in Sweden posted.
The German-Swiss human rights organisation Libereco has demanded that “Western companies must immediately end their financial support for dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s propaganda TV.”
“Western companies continue to advertise on Belarusian state television – despite the ongoing terror against the civilian population, tens of thousands of arrests and over 600 political prisoners. Even immediately before, after and during political broadcasts and propagandistic news formats, commercials by Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Henkel, Coca-Cola or L’Oréal run, as a sample analysis by Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights shows,” the NGO said in its report.
For one week, from July 12 to 18,
the German-Swiss human rights organisation observed and analysed the commercial breaks of the three state- owned television stations Belarus 1, ONT and CTV, each from 7 to 10 pm. The result: Out of a total of 874 commercials, almost two-thirds (63%)
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