This week has confirmed two things that I have long believed but not been sure about.
The first one is that I am still forbidden to enter Belarus. It has now been almost two years since I tried to go there last time, in February 2004. After I had attended the by-elections to the local council of the town Belooziorsk a few months earlier, I had found out that a local journalist had been sued for defamation over a discussion at a polling station that I had also taken part in. Since I did not think she had done anything wrong, I sent a written statement to the court and said that I was prepared to come there to give my version of events. Some weeks later, I received an official letter by ordinary mail, telling me to appear as a witness in the proceedings.
I got an invitation and applied for a visa at the Belarusian embassy here in Stockholm. I got the visa, and the next day I spent travelling via Vienna to Minsk. At the international airport, the border guards told me that I was forbidden to enter the Republic of Belarus, changed my return ticket, and forced me to get on the same plane back again.
I never got an explanation. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked, both in Minsk and with the embassy in Stockholm, but got not response. A subsequent letter from me to the Belarusian ambassador was also ignored.
So ever since then I have not really been sure about my status, but now I am. A week and a half ago I paid the fee of 650 kronor (a bit over 80 USD) and handed in my passport along with a visa application at the embassy. This Thursday I returned there.
"Here is your passport," said the consular officer.
I took it and looked at him for a brief moment but he did not say anything. I opened it to start going through the pages.
"There is no visa in it," he said.
I was not going to get my money back. I was not going to get any explanation of why I had been denied a visa. I was not going to be told whether it would make sense or not to apply again later. Unfortunately, he said.
Well, at least now I know that I have not been missing any opportunities during the last two years. And at least they had the courtesy not to have me going all the way to Minsk's international airport to find out about it.
The second thing that was confirmed to me is that Aleksandr Kozulin, the other allegedly democratic presidential candidate besides Aleksandr Milinkevich, is working for Moscow. I have never believed in Kozulin's democratic credentials, but the mystery to me has been whether he is being run by the Belarusian or the Russian regime. I was inclined to believe the latter, and this week I felt certain about it when his election team was joined by Valeriy Frolov.
Frolov, a former army general and member of parliament, became known as a bold opposition politician a few years ago with the launching of the parliamentary group Respublika. Frolov is one of the most openly pro-Russian opposition politicians, and did not even make a secret of the group's meetings with the Russian security and intelligence services during their trips to Moscow.
As for the up-coming election, both Frolov and another member of Respublika, Sergey Skrebets (who is in jail), first positioned themselves as potential candidates. Recently, Skrebets pulled out and said he supported Kozulin. When Frolov did the same this week, my doubts left me.
I can not help feeling a bit sorry about this. I have met Skrebets, and he seems a good enough person. Frolov is also said to be sympathetic.
Yet they both allow themselves to be used in the games of Belarus' chauvinist neighbour.
The first one is that I am still forbidden to enter Belarus. It has now been almost two years since I tried to go there last time, in February 2004. After I had attended the by-elections to the local council of the town Belooziorsk a few months earlier, I had found out that a local journalist had been sued for defamation over a discussion at a polling station that I had also taken part in. Since I did not think she had done anything wrong, I sent a written statement to the court and said that I was prepared to come there to give my version of events. Some weeks later, I received an official letter by ordinary mail, telling me to appear as a witness in the proceedings.
I got an invitation and applied for a visa at the Belarusian embassy here in Stockholm. I got the visa, and the next day I spent travelling via Vienna to Minsk. At the international airport, the border guards told me that I was forbidden to enter the Republic of Belarus, changed my return ticket, and forced me to get on the same plane back again.
I never got an explanation. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked, both in Minsk and with the embassy in Stockholm, but got not response. A subsequent letter from me to the Belarusian ambassador was also ignored.
So ever since then I have not really been sure about my status, but now I am. A week and a half ago I paid the fee of 650 kronor (a bit over 80 USD) and handed in my passport along with a visa application at the embassy. This Thursday I returned there.
"Here is your passport," said the consular officer.
I took it and looked at him for a brief moment but he did not say anything. I opened it to start going through the pages.
"There is no visa in it," he said.
I was not going to get my money back. I was not going to get any explanation of why I had been denied a visa. I was not going to be told whether it would make sense or not to apply again later. Unfortunately, he said.
Well, at least now I know that I have not been missing any opportunities during the last two years. And at least they had the courtesy not to have me going all the way to Minsk's international airport to find out about it.
The second thing that was confirmed to me is that Aleksandr Kozulin, the other allegedly democratic presidential candidate besides Aleksandr Milinkevich, is working for Moscow. I have never believed in Kozulin's democratic credentials, but the mystery to me has been whether he is being run by the Belarusian or the Russian regime. I was inclined to believe the latter, and this week I felt certain about it when his election team was joined by Valeriy Frolov.
Frolov, a former army general and member of parliament, became known as a bold opposition politician a few years ago with the launching of the parliamentary group Respublika. Frolov is one of the most openly pro-Russian opposition politicians, and did not even make a secret of the group's meetings with the Russian security and intelligence services during their trips to Moscow.
As for the up-coming election, both Frolov and another member of Respublika, Sergey Skrebets (who is in jail), first positioned themselves as potential candidates. Recently, Skrebets pulled out and said he supported Kozulin. When Frolov did the same this week, my doubts left me.
I can not help feeling a bit sorry about this. I have met Skrebets, and he seems a good enough person. Frolov is also said to be sympathetic.
Yet they both allow themselves to be used in the games of Belarus' chauvinist neighbour.
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