JRL NEWSWATCH: “Alexander Lukashenko changes tack in Belarus stand-off” – Financial Times/ James Shotter, Max Seddon

“Meeting imprisoned opposition leaders is departure from previous hardline approach”

“After … weeks in the Belarusian KGB prison, tech executive Dmitry Rabtsevich and a dozen opposition activists … [were visited by] embattled strongman … Lukashenko … [in] an unannounced roundtable with his jailed opponents. The jail then quickly released … Rabtsevich …. The bizarre four-and-a-half-hour jail meeting … was … Lukashenko’s first with opposition figures since … a deeply flawed election in August … [followed by] a brutal crackdown …. [with the meeting being] a striking change in tack from the 66-year-old autocrat ….”

Click here for: “Alexander Lukashenko changes tack in Belarus stand-off; Meeting imprisoned opposition leaders is departure from previous hardline approach” – Financial Times/ James Shotter, Max Seddon

[Lukashenko image is file photo from another occasion]