Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed military support for embattled Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, while urging a peaceful resolution to unrest and demonstrations that erupted after a disputed election.
EU ambassadors in the capital Minsk have denounced a crackdown on the opposition in the wake of the presidential poll, in which 65-year-old Lukashenko claimed a landslide re-election with some 80% of the vote.
The Belarusian strongman’s relationship with Putin had soured ahead of the August 9 ballot because Minsk refused closer integration with Russia – and even claimed that Moscow had sent mercenaries across the border to organise riots.
Yet Putin promised yesterday military backing for Belarus and said that Russia had set up a reserve group of law enforcement officers to deploy if the post-vote situation deteriorated.
“It won’t be used unless the situation starts to get out of control,” Putin said, unless “extremist elements ... begin setting fire to cars, houses and banks, begin seizing administrative buildings”.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) chief Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia should stay out of the Belarus crisis, adding that it is a “sovereign and independent state”.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki meanwhile said that any Russian intervention would be a breach of international law and the “human rights of Belarusian people, who should be free to decide their own fate”.
Putin has also called on the authorities in Minsk and the opposition to “find a way out” of the crisis peacefully.
He conceded that there are problems in Belarus, saying that “otherwise people wouldn’t take to the streets”.
The Russian leader’s calls for calm came after the European Union and ambassadors of member states in Minsk condemned a crackdown on government critics seeking new elections and Lukashenko’s resignation.
The opposition created a Co-ordination Council to oversee the peaceful transition of power after their leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled to neighbouring Lithuania fearing reprisals.
Lukashenko has ordered a criminal probe into the opposition’s attempts to “seize power” and several of the presidium’s members have been detained or summoned for questioning.
Maria Kolesnikova, an aide of Tikhanovskaya and member of the council, was summoned by investigators for questioning yesterday.
She said she invoked her right not to testify against herself.
The group’s most prominent member, Nobel Prize-winning author and outspoken government critic Svetlana Alexievich, was questioned by investigators on Wednesday and also refused to answer questions.
Two of the presidium’s members this week were sentenced to 10 days each in police detention for organising unsanctioned rallies and disobeying law enforcement orders.
“The European diplomats emphasised that prosecution of Co-ordination Council members on grounds presented by the authorities is unacceptable,” a joint statement said.
EU nations have also vowed to sanction individuals that they say were involved in vote-rigging and the violent crackdown on protesters.
The EU ambassadors in Minsk said yesterday that: “Belarusians are asking for an open dialogue with their own authorities about the future of their country” urging “a peaceful and democratic process, underpinned by independent and free media and a strong civil society”.
The presidium said yesterday that the formation of armed groups abroad to intervene in Belarus was “unacceptable” and against the wishes of the Belarusian people.
Lukashenko has dismissed calls to resign or host new elections, instead accusing Western countries and Russia of stirring political unrest.
The leader said the ex-Soviet country’s European neighbours had declared a “diplomatic war” and were meddling in Belarus’s internal affairs.
Last week he described demonstrators as “rats” in a video that showed him carrying an assault rifle, after more than 100,000 people took to the streets to demand he stand down.
Around a dozen journalists working for local and international media outlets were detained by masked law enforcement for document checks, police in Minsk said.
His security services rounded up nearly 7,000 participants in peaceful rallies that erupted in the days after the vote, and hundreds of detainees claimed they were abused by police in custody.
Local and international rights groups have urged the UN to investigate allegations of systematic torture at the hands of security services.
Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old political newcomer who ran in place of her jailed husband, has issued calls for historic demonstrations and mass strikes following the election.
Workers at state-owned factories initially downed tools and joined the walk-outs in large numbers, but fewer employees have kept up participation due to pressure from the authorities, activists have said.
Industry Minister Pyotr Parkhomchik said yesterday that there were no ongoing strikes and that “all assembly lines have been restarted”.
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/2YH1WTh
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