Pavel Latushka: Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Ambassador
The usurper recently received his UN Ambassador Valentin Rybakov, who is waging an unsuccessful fight against the “malicious” sanctions imposed on the regime. Rybakov claims that these sanctions violate human rights (not a word about human rights violations by the regime, of course), and also contribute to the growth of hunger in the countries of the global South.
Meanwhile, in the first half of 2024, revenue from potash fertilizer supplies to China collapsed by 51% compared to the first six months of last year. Even in China, they do not take seriously Rybakov’s cries about world hunger and his pleas to help sell fertilizers at a higher price to save starving Africans. Lukashenko’s myth about the connection between Belarusian potash supplies and world hunger has finally failed.
Meanwhile, Russia, which Lukashenko had so much hoped for, is using price dumping to force Belarusian potash fertilizers out of the Chinese market. Russia has increased its supplies to China in physical volumes by 23%. For some commodity items, the Russians are even thinking about closing their market to Belarusian suppliers. So much for the age-old "brotherhood".
Then a new EU sanctions package arrived with a significant harmonization of trade restrictions against the regime and Russia. It will now be even more difficult to evade European sanctions, and the regime's exports will be reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars.
The sanctions are starting to take effect, and Russia and China are tightening competition with Belarusian producers, which is starting to drag the Belarusian economy down. In response, Lukashenko changed his rhetoric and began asking the West for negotiations.
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