British image-maker to earn millions of dollars over Lukashenka

• 18.03.2008, 8:28

British PR figure Timothy Bell said in the interview to Moscow Times he and his company would earn millions of dollars over improving of Lukashenka’s image of several years. Lukashenka has recently proposed Timothy Bell to work on improving his image in the West.

The latest big clients of the British were disgraced Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, Saudi Arabia’s government and Thailand’s ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

As the newspaper writes, the 66-year-old, staunchly conservative spin doctor again has his work ¬ - he is to alter public perceptions of his latest client -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka.

Lukashenka’s nickname as "Europe's last dictator" is sure to feature prominently on Bell's things-to-tackle list. "He would like his country to be better understood, and his successes to be better grasped" Bell said by telephone in the interview to Moscow Times.

Bell, a member of Britain's House of Lords whose most recent work has revolved around his friend and the Kremlin's self-exiled enemy Boris Berezovsky, was invited by Lukashenka to his presidential office in Minsk last week.

At the meeting, attended by Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynau and slowed by occasionally perplexed interpreters, Lukashenka told Bell that he wanted to hear how his company -- Bell Pottinger -- proposed to sell the former Soviet satellite to the West.

Bell refused to disclose the specific promotion methods he was considering, but revealed that Lukashenka said Belarus was a country willing to go to great lengths to be viewed as accessible.

"He has raised pensions and wages and would understandably like to shift the focus to these areas," Bell said. "Lukashenka doesn't see why Belarus can't be a friend to the West and a friend to Russia at the same time," he said.

Asked whether he would advise on concrete policy changes for political clients, Timothy Bell said: "Yes, of course. But I view our work as more of an extension of policymaking rather than policymaking itself."

In a career that has spanned four decades, Bell appears to have kept business and personal ethics separate, seldom refusing to represent either -- or both -- sides in a squabble. Because of his dealings with Berezovsky, however, he said, "I know we won't get any contracts with the ex-KGB guys, but then, we don't want to."

But in the case of Lukashenka he takes pride in working, as he put it, to reverse "isolationist policies" that have proved "unhelpful" to the country's foreign relations. According to him, Lukashenka has also given the green light for a European Commission representative office to be based in Minsk. Difficulties have continued with the United States, in particular, as U.S. Ambassador to Minsk Karen Stewart returned to Washington temporarily last week following a recommendation on the part of Belarusian authorities, but the signs that Lukashenka would like better relations with the West are there.

Problems to the east may be part of the reason. The resources of a still heavily centralized economy are drying up at a time when Russia, a formerly dependable neighbour that sold Belarus energy at bargain prices, is starting to demand world market fees. The same thousand cubic meters of gas that Russia sold to Belarus for $40 in 2006 is likely to cost as much as $170 by the end of the year. That has narrowed the profit margins on Russian-derived gas that Belarus has been reselling to Europe at world prices.

As for the economic benefits he will receive from helping Lukashenka, Bell would only say that his company would earn millions of dollars over the space of several years.

Timothy Bell is best known in Britain for his advisory role in Thatcher's three successful election campaigns. Bell Pottinger handled the media attention for Litvinenko.

Bell is also no stranger to former Soviet states. Former President Boris Yeltsin sought his advice when he ran for re-election in 1996. He has also advised Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Russia has also sought the advice of Western PR firms. In 2006, President Vladimir Putin hired British PR firm Portland to advise on the country's hosting of the G8 summit.