Belarus, Maria Kolesnikova, the last opponent, also kidnapped. “She’s in Ukraine”

Perhaps without the video filmed by a passing motorist, who knows how long there would have been no news of Maria Kolesnikova, the leader of the Belarusian opposition picked up yesterday on the street and loaded into a gray van by masked men. But now no one has doubts about where the only remaining exponent in the homeland of the trio of women has gone he challenged Lukashenko in the August 9 elections. Not in a cell of the Interior Ministry, but in the hands of the KGB, as the State Security Service in Minsk is still called. After using a heavy hand against the first street demonstrations for fraud, after trying to seek a dialogue with those who protested, now the father-teacher from Belarus has decided to close the accounts with those who lead the opposition. Abroad, after Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Olga Kovalkova were threatened and intimidated. In prison or even outside of Belarus, the three politicians who originally ran as candidates to challenge Lukashenko who ran after 26 years for the sixth term. Now those who have stayed at home settle down.

The catch on the street

Days ago it was the turn of the former Minister of Culture Pavel Latushko, forced to take refuge in Lithuania. He had expressed his support for the protests and his father, as he likes to be called the head of state, had sworn to it: he has crossed the red line. On Saturday 5, Olga Kovalkova, a collaborator of Kolesnikova, was escorted to the border with Poland and kindly invited to cross the border. Yesterday the capture in the street of Maria of thirty-eight years. Shortly after, two representatives of the Coordination Council went to Kolesnikova’s home to find out what had happened to her and were arrested. Now only two of the members of the Council remain at large, a jurist and Svetlana Aleksyevich, a Nobel Prize winner for literature and, therefore, almost untouchable. it’s a shame. In the 21st century, the Stalinist methods of the NKVD are applied in Europe, thundered Lithuanian Chancellor Linas Linkevicius. And his German colleague Heiko Maas added: We demand to know where Kolesnikova is and we demand the release of all political prisoners.

Waiting for the EU decision

London is also demanding that the Lukashenko government make the return of the opposition leader its top priority. On the 21st, Europe will probably decide to block the entry and freeze the bank accounts of 31 senior officials, including the Minister of the Interior and his deputy. Lukashenko will not be included in the list for now to leave a minimum of space for a possible negotiation. But the margins seem very small, especially since the one who was called the last dictator of Europe has decided to bet all his cards on Putin. In the next few days he will be in Moscow for a direct meeting and in the meantime he is doing everything possible to make the Lord of the Kremlin forget that a few weeks ago he singled out him as the author of attempts to interfere in the Belarusian political process. On Thursday he released a tape between alleged German and Polish officials claiming that the poisoning of Russian opponent Navalny was false. Meanwhile, Putin has prepared groups of riot troops on the border ready for intervention.. But for now Lukashenko doesn’t need this kind of help. On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters were confronted by police who made 633 arrests. Someone, to escape, jumped into the river and was helped by a river patrol to climb to the opposite bank. The entire team was arrested yesterday.