‘Lukashenka Fearing Of Halouchanka’

• 11.03.2025, 15:24

Reasons why the dictator has changed the prime minister.

The Belarusian government resigned on 3 February, but Lukashenka did not let the officials go. Only a month later, on 3 March, he partially announced the new composition without specifying the prime minister.

The intrigue was whether Raman Halouchanka would remain in this position. And a week later, it became known that he would not stay, but go to the National Bank. The new prime minister is the head of Minsk region, Aliaksandr Turchyn, who was deputy prime minister during the government of Siarhei Rumas.

‘Zerkalo’ asked about the significance of these reshuffles.

Political analyst Aliaksandr Frydman notes that the change of the prime minister may be a sign of Raman Halouchanka's growing apparatus weight. Simply put, his authority among officials may have increased so much that Lukashenka began to fear it.

‘Probably, he was worried that Halouchanka is a reasonable man with ambitions. Obviously, he tries to hide it, but the fact that it is present is very obvious,’ Frydman said.

Therefore, the expert calls the appointment of Prime Minister Aliaksandr Turchyn ‘a choice against Halouchanka’.

‘From Lukashenka's point of view, he was a successful prime minister - the economic performance was quite good, given the sanctions, economic pressure from the West and the war,’ says the analyst. ‘Under Halouchanka, Belarus became integrated into the Russian military economy, and in 2020 he personally passed Lukashenka's endurance test’.

Can the appointment of a former member of Siarhei Rumas' ‘government of reformers’ be a harbinger of future reforms in Belarus?

Aliaksandr Frydman is sure that one should not count on it.

‘Turchyn has already stated that there will be no fundamental changes,’ he reminds. ‘But new challenges are coming: it's not clear what the foreign policy course will be, what Russia will do with its military economy. Halouchanka had a clear and obvious main line. And Turchyn has confirmed his flexibility. If necessary, he will continue to build the military economy. If the situation changes, he will try to relieve it and go in the market direction’.