Putin and Lukashenko in Sochi, Russia.
Photo: EPA / MIKHAEL KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL / EFE
Last week, when I read the news that a commercial plane had been diverted by a military one and had been made to land in Belarus only to capture a dissident journalist from the regime of that country, it seemed to me that I was reading the plot of the next film of James Bond set in the Cold War.
Apparently, the arrest of the young journalist Roman Protasévich was a point of honor for Aleksandr Lukashenko, who fears the independent and critical press more than the new sanctions that seem to be in the works for him and his collaborators.
But what can be expected after this episode from the rest of the western nations? The reaction has been one of rejection and it could be a unique case that will have similar consequences (even at the level of civil aeronautics due to the serious precedent that this fact represents).
Or at least that it seems since the most recent summit of European Union countries has discussed the issue behind closed doors and without any type of mobile phone or device to avoid leaks of information or statements of what will happen from now on. in the already tense relations between Belarus and the mainland.
Everything seems to indicate that this event would be the definitive break in Lukashenko’s rapprochement with the West and the opening to a possible accession to Russia, which has always been waiting for this opportunity.
At this point I do not want to be naive, but neither do I want to fall into unnecessary scaremongering. We are neither in the 1990s nor does the Berlin Wall exist. We live in a globalized world where news flies in a matter of minutes and explodes in our faces.
My big question is: how long will there continue to be regimes that act with total impunity and go against the most basic human rights such as freedom of expression?
Is there no way to control these bad practices in an effective way? Are travel sanctions and the alienation of assets to high-ranking officials who represent these groups sufficient beyond microphone diplomacy?
Personally, I would like to see more forcefulness in this and many other cases that, at times, make me lose faith in earthly justice.
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