Belarussian leader calls on Putin to reaffirm mutual cooperation, and later rejects offers of foreign mediation


Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, is facing rising calls from Protestants to step down after a highly controversial presidential election.

Belarusian authorities say Lukashenko won 80.1 percent of the vote in a poll that many consider rigged.

Protests erupted in Belarus this week, sometimes erupting in violence, with some protesters claiming they were beaten and humiliated by security services while in custody.

Lukashenko did not promise to “give up the country to anyone” and refused foreign mediation to stabilize the situation in his country, while speaking to the Center for Strategic Management at the Belarussian Ministry of Defense, state news agency Belta reported on Saturday.

“We have created a normal government according to the constitution,” Lukashenko said. “We do not need foreign governments, we do not need intermediaries.

“It seems to me that without insulting the leadership of these republics, I want to say: put things in order in your place,” he added.

Growing anger

Allegations of torture appear to have angered the government.

Officials in Belarus say 6,700 people have been arrested and at least one person killed in the aftermath of the election, which independent observers have criticized as not free or fair.

Tens of thousands marched through the capital on Friday, and on Saturday protesters gathered in Minsk’s Pushkin Square and demanded change because they were taking part in a vigil for an activist who died there, according to CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen.

There have also been signs that the country’s military and police are turning against the strongman. A video posted on Instagram by a man named Evgeny Novitski shows his brother – a former special forces officer – throwing his uniform in a trash can, saying he is no longer proud of his job.

Dozens of security officers rioted outside several government buildings in Minsk on Friday, dropping their shields and being embraced by anti-government protesters as protesters chanted “brothers” at police.

Saturday, a CNN team saw on the ground paratroopers marching through Protestants in the capital in a show of support.

Authorities have now released more than 2,000 people amid ongoing protests, according to a Friday statement from the Interior Ministry.

Opposition in exile

Opposition politician Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says she won a majority in last Sunday’s vote.

The independent monitoring group “Honest People” said that according to their data Tikhanovskaya had won in at least 80 polling stations in Belarus.

Opposition groups called for a boycott of the ballot box, prompting widespread ballot papers and fraud to keep Lukashenko in power.

Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the vote, urged mayors to organize peaceful protests this weekend and asked her supporters to sign an online petition calling for a repeat of the vote, with the presence of independent observers. .

Belarussian police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.

Foreign leaders are worried about the aftermath of the election.

The European Union has rejected the results and is working on additional sanctions on “those responsible for violence and counterfeiting”, EU High Representative Josep Borrell Fontelles tweeted on Friday at the end of the “good and constructive” meeting of the EU 27 Foreign Ministers.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated his belief that the elections in Belarus “were not free, they were not fair”, and that he had “consulted” with European leaders to gain a better understanding of the situation.

He did not answer questions about whether the US would impose sanctions on Minsk or join other EU countries that have refused to recognize the results.

“The common goal is to support the Belarussian people to achieve their own sovereignty, their own freedom, to expand what you see happening in these protests,” Pompeo said during a news conference in Warsaw on Saturday with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

CNN’s Jamie Crawford and Claudia Otto contributed to this report.

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