Belarus executive insists US sanctions were in vain
The United States has lifted sanctions against two Belarusian enterprises. Sanctions still remain in force against Belnaftakhim, Belarus’s petrochemical monopoly. The Polatsk-based Steklovolokno and Lida-based Lakokraska have been removed from the black list but do not seem to be so much excited. They maintain the sanctions were senseless.
“They have had almost no effect”, says Vyachaslau Hradzyushka, the head of sales at Steklovolokno.
“The only thing was that we had to redistribute our sales. That required a certain amount of time. Anyway, the US did not achieve the results it was counting on. Their sanctions were sensless”.
Ivan Sidarau, CEO Lakokraska says the factory has operated as usual before the sanctions, during the sanctions and after they were abolished.
“When the sanctions were imposed, the enterprise functioned normally and reported good performance results. Now we will also achieve our production targets. Naturally, it will be more difficult, but this is my job as the top executive”.
The only problem his company faced was the supplies of US-made equipment.
We remind that the decision to lift sanction is not final. The US has suspended them for six months. Now it is up to the authorities in Belarus whether the sanctions will be resumed or not.
Lakokraska CEO says that if Americans decide to resume sanctions, they, not Lakokraska, could have big problems.
“If the US imposes sanctions against us again, the State Department will regret this decision very much. In a couple years, it will become faded without Lida-made paints”.
Economist Leanid Zaika, the director of the Minsk-based think tank Strategy Center, reckons that US sanctions are not significant for Belarus economy. Nevertheless, they can cause certain troubles.
“The US sanctions have no serious impact on the Belarusian economy. Imposing or lifting the sanction is not something that can spoil the foreign trade performance.
“Lakokraska, Steklovolokno and all the rest do not play a big role. They could even be disregarded when making an analysis of Belarus’s foreign trade balance. The sanctions can simply cause some unpleasantness. But this is not the case when something can deteriorate rapidly…”
In the view of the economist, Belnaftakhim is the only enterprise that can be affected by sanctions.
Journalist Sviatlana Kalinkina describes this reserved reaction of the Belarusian enterprises to the abolition of sanctions as the state’s policy. In reality, the sanctions were painful enough, otherwise the negotiations to free political prisoners could have continued for years.
“This is a policy of the government not to admit that the sanctions were painful. But, as far as I know, it has been quite painful for Belnaftakhim. Lakokraska has had good sales in Russia, so they are in a better position… As for the enterprises in the petrochemical sector, it has been very painful.
I am confident that through peaceful negotiations only neither Europe nor the United State would have been able to achieve that there are no political prisoners in this country now. Without sanctions, they would have spent many years to negotiate”.
Anatol Lyabedzka, the leader of the opposition United Civic Party who has always criticized the sanctions, has unexpectedly admitted that the sanctions were useful.
“No doubt, they were useful. The prospects of the relations deteriorating even further could lead to a higher level of sanctions that could have affected greatly the Belarusian enterprises, especially if Europe joined as well”.
The US did not aim to paralyze the Belarusian economy. The main goal of the sanctions was to make the Belarusian authorities think deep”, Lyabedzka says. In his view, the US has succeeded in this.
