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“Neighbors of God: you will not choose them, and we are forced to live and make friends, but it is not always possible. The neighboring countries, especially Poland, you know what position they have taken. And because of yesterday’s inauguration, it is like a sort of resentment, as a sort of statement that we did not inform the Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Czechs or anyone else that we were planning such an event.
But, in my opinion, according to Belarusian law, we are not obliged to inform anyone in the West, or anything in general, about such things.
This is an internal matter of our country. And the criticism for only one thing: supposedly a secret, supposedly a secret. You know, we invited almost two thousand people to the inauguration, along with the soldiers. And it’s practically impossible to keep those things secret, “says Lukashenko.
The secret inauguration turned out to be a big surprise for Belarusian journalists and observers. Announcements of the next inauguration appeared on Wednesday morning on the channels of the Telegram platform. Later, online media published photos of Lukashenko’s tuple. Journalists raised the version that it was a rehearsal for Lukashenko’s inauguration.
Minsk officials did not return calls or say they had no information on the date of the inauguration. However, reports soon surfaced on Telegram and on the BelTA website of the Belarusian state news agency that Lukashenko had been sworn in and assumed office.
EU refuses to recognize Lukashenko as president of Belarus
The European Union refuses to recognize Lukashenko as Belarusian president after his inauguration, which lacked “democratic legitimacy,” bloc diplomat Josep Borrell said on Thursday, saying that Brussels was reviewing its relations with Minsk.
Lukashenko’s secret inauguration on Wednesday sparked new condemnation in the West and new mass demonstrations in Belarus.
The August 9 elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair and “the European Union does not recognize their false results,” Borrell said in a statement. Therefore, the so-called inauguration “and the new mandate that Lukashenko claims to have received” do not have democratic legitimacy.
“This inauguration is directly contrary to the will of a large part of the Belarusian population, as evidenced by the many unprecedented and peaceful post-election protests, and only exacerbates the political crisis in Belarus,” said Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister.
The EU reiterates its call on Minsk to “refrain from any further repression and violence against the people of Belarus and immediately and unconditionally release all detainees, including political prisoners,” it said.
“The EU remains convinced that the inclusion of national dialogue and a positive response to Belarus’ demands for new democratic elections is the only way forward to find a way out of a serious political crisis in Belarus,” the statement said.
He also claims that Brussels is “reviewing its relations with Belarus.”
The EU is sanctioning some 40 people responsible for the crackdown in Belarus and is considering punishing Lukashenko himself, diplomatic sources said.
However, this requires the consent of all 27 EU members, and Cyprus links its support for the action against Turkey to force it to stop exploring for gas in the waters of its economic zone.
Sweden and Finland refuse to impose sanctions on Lukashenko so that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which Sweden will take over soon, can mediate in Belarus, the sources said.
This issue will be discussed at the EU summit from 1 to 2 October in Brussels.
Defenders: more than 250 people were detained in protests in Belarus on Wednesday
The Belarusian militia detained more than 250 people during protests across the country following the secret inauguration of authoritarian President Lukashenko for the sixth term, with at least five protesters in need of medical assistance, said the law enforcement center of Viasna.
The Viasna website publishes lists of the names of 259 protesters arrested on Wednesday. Some of these people have already escaped. According to the lawyers, the detainees include a Russian citizen and a minor.
According to rights defenders, two people were taken by ambulance from the Minsk Central District Interior Board, two more from different districts of the capital, where the protests took place. According to Viasna, another injured protester is in the hospital.
Most of the protesters were arrested in Minsk on Wednesday. There are also detainees in Baranovichi, Barysave, Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev, Maladecina, Polotsk, Stoline.
Several thousand people gathered in central Minsk on Wednesday evening to protest Lukashenko’s earlier inauguration. Witnesses reported that agents of the force structure made abrupt arrests with sticks. Water cannons and tear gas were used to pursue people.
For more than a month there have been unprecedented protests in Belarus over the August 9 presidential elections, which Lukashenko has ruled the country since 1994. The opposition and Western countries consider these elections to be rigged.
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