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“Solve the problem economically” – that’s the response of the Belarusian head of state Lukashenko to the sanctions imposed by the Baltic states. Specifically, it threatened to close borders. They could also affect Germany.
In reaction to the sanctions of the Baltic states against Belarus, the authoritarian ruling president Alexander Lukashenko wants to impose his own punitive measures. “We will try to solve this problem economically,” said the head of state of the official Belta news agency. Specifically, the country could no longer transport its goods through Baltic ports to international markets, but through Russian ones, he said.
Germany also in sight
“The strongest countries would understand that Belarus should not be angry that it could close the borders in Brest and Grodno in the west,” said the 66-year-old. So German products in particular could no longer reach the East so easily, he said. Lukashenko claimed that the “weak Baltic states” Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had received orders to oppose the former Soviet republic. By whom, he did not say.
The punitive measures of the three Baltic states are targeting 30 people who are held responsible for the alleged falsification of the presidential elections in Belarus more than three weeks ago and for the violence against protesters. The head of state, Lukashenko, is also on the list of foreign ministries of the three EU countries. The EU wants to impose its own sanctions on Belarus, regardless of the Baltic states. For them, the EU deal did not go far enough. It is still controversial within the EU whether Lukashenko himself should be punished with punitive measures.
Students join the protests
Nationally, the pressure on the president continues to mount, especially on the streets. Hundreds of students boycotted the start of the new academic year, waving opposition flags in Minsk and collecting signatures, an eyewitness reported to the Reuters news agency. Videos on social media showed that some of them had been arrested.
With their action, the students followed a call from exiled opposition politician Svetlana Tichanovskaya to continue to pressure the president and demand his resignation and new elections.
Lukashenko had declared himself the winner of the presidential elections three weeks ago. The opposition around Tichanovskaya does not recognize the victory and accuses Lukashenko, who has ruled authoritarianly since 1994, of electoral fraud. There are protests every day. Lukashenko has been criticized internationally: the police continue to arrest protesters. Many of them accuse the regime of ill-treatment.
Lukashenko said, referring to the ongoing protests: “Do you know what happens when we fight among ourselves? A civil war could break out.” But he will not allow it. Lukashenko had previously promised reforms for the first time. The opposition reacted skeptically to the announcement.
