Opinion: Opposition deserves thanks for consolidating pro-government forces in Belarus

"You know, if I were Aleksandr Lukashenko, I would thank Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Pavel Latushko, because by making threats these people have done something extremely useful for the government: they have consolidated the supporters of Aleksandr Lukashenko during the past several months," Vadim Gigin said.

They have launched a hate campaign against the delegates of the Belarusian People's Congress and in general against people who support the government. This is why pro-government people have rallied together and now they do not want to give the country and the achievements of recent years away to anybody. "This consolidation happened largely thanks to the external pressure," Vadim Gigin noted.

According to Vadim Gigin, government critics also deserve thanks for keeping the Belarusian People's Congress in the public eye. “The opposition leaders talk about the Belarusian People's Congress almost more and louder than regional governors, or leaders of political parties and so on, because the society has very high expectations of the Belarusian People's Congress. This is a really important event on the way out of the turbulence zone we were in last year," he said.