Роль эпидемии COVID-19 в развитии белорусского политического кризиса 2020 г.

Abstract

The article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political and socio-economic situation in the Republic of Belarus in the first half of 2020. Belarus, like the UK and Sweden, at the first stage of the pandemic sought to avoid the introduction of quarantine measures. The Belarusian government refused to pursue a joint policy of countering the pandemic with Russia within the framework of the Union State. President A. Lukashenko was especially outraged by the closure of the joint border by Russia. Due to the closure of the border, Belarusian guest workers could not get to Russia, unemployment in Belarus rose sharply, which became the basis for the formation of the potential for protest voting. A. Lukashenko could not repeat the Russian measures against COVID-19 due to the lack of financial resources. As a result, he developed a program to combat coronavirus in a propagandistic vein: the Belarusian media downplayed the danger of COVID-19, criticized Russian quarantine measures, praised the Belarusian policy of «openness», positioned A. Lukashenko as the «vanquisher of the coronavirus». A. Lukashenko announced the reason for refusing quarantine: the economic interests of Belarus. On the eve of the presidential elections, he launched his own election campaign in an anti-Russian format, based on criticism of Russia’s policy on combating COVID-19. However, replacing quarantine with propaganda did not help. In the summer of 2020, the death rate in Belarus increased significantly. The attempts of the Belarusian leadership to use the COVID-19 epidemic for electoral purposes discredited A. Lukashenko’s policy towards the pandemic, and the reaction of the Belarusian civil society to the government’s failure to fight the epidemic increased the potential of protest voting in the presidential elections on August 9, 2020. The main part of the Belarusian electorate refused to support A. Lukashenko in the elections, and after the announcement of the election results, large-scale street protests began in Belarus.