Of two evils choose the lesser

Everyone knows the usefulness of “carrot and stick” politics. However, sometimes neither carrot nor stick brings visible results. On the 15^th February Belarusian government got a carrot one more time. After the 4 moths suspension the European Union has lift sanctions against 170 Belarusian individuals including the president, A. Lukashenko, permanently. What was the reason of such a weighty decision? Human rights are still abused. There was no transparency during the presidential elections. Belarusian opposition insists on the sanction maintenance. But the real answer is somewhere else. It is in Russia.