Parotnikau: Decision to dismiss Kosinets was spontaneous

The fact that both head of the President’s Administration Alyaksandr Kosinets and his senior deputy Kanstanstin Martynetski have been dismissed means that the decision was spontaneous. The fact that an acting head of the President’s Administration has been appointed instead also testifies to it, head of the analytical centre Belarus Security Blog Andrei Parotnikau told Euroradio.

Parotnikau: "Lukashenka made a few critical remarks about Kosinets and the President’s Administration in the past few months. That is why we cannot say that there was no reason for the dismissal.  However, it was not expected either.”

It is necessary to wait for Kosinets’ new appointment to see if he is out of favour. If he is not, he may only be appointed Prime Minister. Any other variant will be a demotion for a person who used to have round-the-clock access to the state leader, Andrei Parotnikau thinks.