Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reports on Belarus

Russian information agency ITAR-TASS has published extracts from the report.

“The Lukashenka regime has managed to obtain the acquiescence of the Belarusian public, thanks largely to his regime’s clampdown on civil society and also to Russian largesse which has enabled relatively stable standards of living,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said.

The Belarusian government has achieved the result ‘despite a structurally flawed, centralized economy’ that is also becoming ‘increasingly unsustainable’, American intelligence analysts think.

“Continued repression of civil society has left Lukashenka increasing isolated from the West and with decreased leverage to resist Moscow’s economic conditions”, intelligence agents report.

Photo: Kommersant