The political crisis in Belarus has reached a new stage. The protestors have taken control of the streets, withstood a brutal crackdown by the police, and the biggest companies are on strike. but Lukashenko remains in office. Now things are getting political. The opposition’s Coordinating Council just met for the first time. The EU is holding emergency meetings to thrash out a policy. And a top FSB officer was in Minsk last night for a three hour meeting with the president.

A lot is up in the air. Will Russia invade? Just how close to Russia is the opposition? What can the EU do to help? How can Lukashenko be unseated?

bne IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris talks Tadeusz Giczan, a Belarusian PhD candidate at University College London School of Slavonic East European Studies and a leading source of information on twitter about what it all means. Follow Tadeusz on Twitter here: @TadeuszGiczan

Ben Aris, editor-in-chief, bne IntelliNews

Tadeusz Giczan, a Belarusian PhD candidate at University College London School of Slavonic East European Studies