An ex-prime minister who could replace Lukashenko fled from Belarus
Former Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas is in London. Opposition media suggest that he fled there, hiding from persecution by the authorities.
On February 3, the Tut.bai website reported, citing sources, that Belarusian security forces detained a group of former and current bankers, as well as representatives of commercial structures. It was reported that the case concerns ex-Prime Minister Sergei Rumas, who headed Belagroprombank more than ten years ago, and in 2012-2018 was the chairman of the board of the Development Bank.
Rumors spread that Rumas himself had been arrested. The ex-prime minister's wife reported that she did not know where he was, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Later, information appeared that Rumas was staying with one of his sons abroad. They both live in Europe: one in Italy, the other in the UK.
Today it turned out that the former official was found in London.
“I will not give any comments, sorry. You heard that I am alive and not arrested, but I will not comment on anything. Thank you for your concern,” Rumas told the nationalist website Nasha Niva.
Alexander Lukashenko dismissed Rumas last July on the eve of the presidential elections. At that time, the Belarusian leader had very tense relations with Russia. The crisis lasted for at least a year. Lukashenko was unable to reach an agreement with the Kremlin either on gas or oil, or on the terms of integration.
At the same time, Rumas managed to conduct quite effective negotiations in Russia. As HSE professor Andrei Suzdaltsev said, when the Belarusian prime minister came to Moscow for the first time, Dmitry Kozak, who was talking with him, was so happy that he called Dmitry Medvedev, and he immediately invited the Minsk guest to his dacha.
“It’s worth asking who from the Russian Federation Rumas might have had contacts with over the past two months. The Kremlin is not happy with the delay. For the transition period, we need a candidate who is potentially popular with the core of the protests and authoritative among managers. Rumas is one of these figures. It is quite possible that the Belarusian authorities could get scared and act proactively. This does not mean that Rumas will be imprisoned. Perhaps they will simply scare you,” Belarusian political scientist Igor Tyshkevich commented on the situation.
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