European Union spokeswoman Ana Pisonero announced that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other opposition figures to President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, explaining that “the EU stands ready to engage in all possible ways to accompany a peaceful democratic transition in Belarus, and outlined in her letter the EU’s comprehensive plan of economic support to a democratic Belarus of up to €3 billion…. The EU will activate this plan once Belarus embarks on a democratic transition.” Evidently, the plan envisions “democratically” overturning the August 2020 election of Lukashenko. Von der Leyen made it clear to President Lukashenko: “No amount of repression, brutality or coercion will bring any legitimacy to your authoritarian regime.” The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell tweeted: The €3 billion plan “should be a genuine incentive for the regime to change its course.” Assumedly, the offer is good with or without any actual assassinations.
However, in the spirit of free enterprise, the husband of one of Lukashenko’s opponents last August has now offered €11 million to anyone who will capture the head of state. Valery Tsepkalo, from Riga, Latvia, posted a video appeal on May 27, calling upon, in particular, state security officials to stage the coup. (Tsepkalo made his money bringing a “Silicon Valley” project to Belarus.) Last year he fled a civil suit involving allegations of bribery and financial fraud; and there is an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Belarus. It was not clear if the full €11 million offer was good if Lukashenko were not taken alive.
