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Belarus closes its borders with EU members Poland and Lithuania. In addition, border controls with neighboring Ukraine are tightened. The ruler Alexander Lukashenko announced Thursday that he was “forced” to take the measures, he said.
Military exercises with NATO troops are currently underway in Lithuania and Ukraine. At the same time, the Belarusian army is training with the Russian forces in western Belarus on the EU border. According to Lukashenko, this maneuver is now being expanded. Given the current situation, there will be a second phase, he said. Originally, the exercise was supposed to end on Friday of next week.
The EU Parliament wants direct sanctions against Lukashenko
Meanwhile, the European Parliament has spoken out in favor of direct sanctions against Lukashenko. The EU is currently preparing sanctions, but so far it has not been clear if Lukashenko will also be on this list. To this end, parliamentarians approved the corresponding motion for a resolution on Thursday in Brussels.
Punitive measures are aimed at those responsible for fraudulent elections and the repression of peaceful protests.
At the same time, the EU parliamentarians indirectly recognized the opposition Svetlana Tichanovskaya as a temporary representative of Belarus.
The 38-year-old ran against Lukashenko in the August 9 elections. The opposition believes that she is the real winner. But the president got 80.1 percent of the vote and wants to take up his sixth term in the fall. Tichanovskaya fled Belarus and is now in Lithuania, an EU country.
She started the civil society coordination council for a peaceful change of power. Almost all the main members are in detention or abroad because Lukashenko is taking massive measures against the body. The EU parliamentarians have now decided to consider the Coordination Council as a temporary representation of the people of Belarus.
The EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell had said on Tuesday that Lukashenko would not be recognized as the legitimate president of the former Soviet republic. The EU Parliament also spoke accordingly in the resolution. The EU states had no longer recognized the outcome of the elections. Lukashenko said that night, according to the state agency Belta, that the election was conducted in accordance with the law in Belarus. “We don’t need recognition.”
Borrel spokesman Peter Stano told the German Press Agency (dpa) on Thursday that Tichanovskaya would come to Brussels on Monday to meet with the EU foreign ministers.
Less than six weeks after the presidential elections, Lukashenko’s apparatus is increasingly brutal against those who think differently. Masked uniformed men who do not wear any identification marks arrest citizens every day. Dozens of lawyers published a video clip in which they criticized the total arbitrariness and “criminal” actions of the authorities.
The EU complained that there was a very active disinformation policy in Belarus, for example. Above all, the Russian state broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today) plays an important role, it was said from EU circles. The massive crackdown on journalists is also worrying. In August alone, 150 journalists were arrested in Belarus. Several journalists, including those from foreign media, had their accreditation withdrawn.
Since the presidential elections in Belarus on August 9, there have been protests every day. Lukashenko won 80.1 percent of the vote and now wants to take a sixth term. The security forces repress the protesters.
