The new NAS charter, approved by Lukashenko's decree, makes the selection of scientists a procedure with a mandatory political filter. The Academy of Sciences risks becoming an even more closed system, where not only professional merit is important, but also political credibility.
The warning of the Lokenko regime against scientists did not rise with the new treaty. The dictator saw how intelligence welcomed the national revival of the country in the early 1990s. He could not distinguish the underlying resentment he contributed to supporting the 2020 protests. He may not like smart people. This happens to almost every dictator.
Lukashenko's suspicion of scientists is also evident in his idea of what science should be. In February he said that the state is ready to pay for a specific result, and in its absence there will be no funding - regardless of how the scientists explain the need for their work. But basic science does not follow the timetable of a bureaucratic report. Research can take years to produce immediate practical effects, and then become the basis for technologies that transform entire industries.
If funding depends primarily on short-term results, researchers will be forced to choose safe and clear tasks for management rather than taking risks with new directions. Not to mention that in such an atmosphere, nonsense will certainly appear, when pseudo-scientific projects that allegedly promise a quick economic impact will be imposed on the head of state who is not competent in science. In fact, we have already seen this in the example of the creation of a Belarusian vaccine against covid or a domestic electric car.
When the state requires scientists to create a "positive image" of the academy and the state, prohibits statements that could damage the reputation of the authorities, and at the same time entrusts the selection of academics to the Security Council, scientific independence becomes conditional.