Belarusian opposition expands tactics: now every step matters

However, Lukashenko shows no signs of leaving office and most of the opposition leaders are either out of the country or suffering from regime repression. Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, available August 9. The winner of the presidential elections held in Lithuania is in Lithuania. Pavel Latuška, a member of the Coordination Council for the peaceful transfer of power in Belarus, created by the opposition, went to Poland some time ago, saying that he was “in constant danger of being arrested and taken into custody”.

Another council member, Olga Kovalkova, was deported to Poland on Saturday and Maryja Kalesnikava was abducted on Monday, her whereabouts still unknown and possibly detained on the border with Ukraine. Another council member, Lily Vlasava, was recently arrested, investigating financial crimes. This situation is forcing the Belarusian opposition to expand its tactics. In addition to the massive weekly protests, efforts are being made to show that the government is losing public support through measures such as pressure on parliamentarians to stop supporting Lukashenko, mass resignations in state-controlled unions, and a boycott of state banks.

“It just came to our attention then. We seize every opportunity to bring change closer and secure our goals,” said Maria Lukashuk, a 28-year-old activist who pressured her MP from the Minsk region to meet with protesters from the opposition. They wanted to know what Valery Voronecki thinks about the official results of the disputed elections, which show that Lukashenko allegedly received 80 percent. votes of the voters and S. Cichanouskaya – 10 percent.

Parliamentary speeches

This appeal to the Belarusian MP is unusual. In last year’s elections, no opposition candidate was elected to the 110-member lower house of parliament (the House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus) and the elections themselves were condemned by independent observers. As a result, parliamentarians in recent weeks have generally ignored public appeals or issued statements in support of Lukashenko.

However, as politico.eu points out, this time such a scheme has been dismantled. Mr. Voronecki, former Deputy Foreign Minister and former Ambassador to Slovakia and Austria, not only agreed to meet, but also expressed his opposition.

“Unfortunately, the elections were organized in a way that did not increase the confidence of the people,” the diplomat told more than 200 people at a recent communal house in a dingy Minsk suburb.

“The responsibility for this lies with the Central Election Commission and with the government of the country in general,” said the parliamentarian, adding that people have the right to peaceful protests. “They are upset. They have the right to show the authorities that they do not agree with such a situation. Unfortunately, instead of initiating a dialogue, government officials react by force.” The red line has been crossed, it must not be done. said the politician.

More than 7,000 people were arrested during post-election events, hundreds were beaten and at least three people died.

There are other ways in which there is discontent with the continued rule of Mr. Lukashenko. He has been in power since 1994.

Alexander Mucha, a 40-year-old financial expert from Minsk, participates in a financial boycott. The action is coordinated by the opposition through popular social media channels on the Telegram platform, where the correspondence is encrypted.

“I have suspended the payment of the utility bills, as well as the mortgage payments to one of the state banks. At the moment, I basically only buy food and try to do it in places where the merchants do not pay VAT to the state, he said A lot.

Economic protests

“The economic boycott can be seen as a form of certain internal sanctions. “These sanctions are applied by a part of Belarusian society to the regime in an attempt to influence the ruling elite,” explains Mucha.

August 27 Lukashenko called people “openly calling for the destabilization of the financial market” as evil.

“Some people have already succumbed to calls from our banks to take foreign exchange. We will not allow the national currency to collapse, “Lukashenko told a government meeting.

Lukashuk has no doubt that things like taking money from state banks are justified. However, it does not require more radical actions such as tax evasion. “It just came to our attention then. This should not be done, despite the fact that we have faced some breaches of legal obligations in Belarus in recent weeks,” Lukashuk said.

Although Lukashenko was unable to quell the protests, he did better to obey the striking workers. In recent days, many strike committee leaders have been fired, arrested or forced to flee the country for fear of prosecution.

On Friday, the strike committee of Belaruskali, the world’s largest producer of potash fertilizers, said that most of the strikers had returned to work as a result of an intimidation campaign against them.

“It is true that strike activity is weakening. This is because the workers want to go on strike legally, which is very difficult to do in Belarus. Strike outside the law could result in criminal charges, ”explains Olga Britikova, 48, leader of the Naftan protest movement in the north of the country.

“But the people have not lost the will to protest,” Britikova said, adding that many workers were considering leaving the state-controlled unions and joining the independents. She herself withdrew from the official union that supported Lukashenko during the election campaign.

“I am not left with the feeling that Belarusians are suddenly waking up, that we are now reacting to any injustice. We are no longer silent about things that we used to pretend to go unnoticed. There is great solidarity right now. If the government pushes something , we are all in a hurry to help, “said Britikova.

Kalesnikava was arrested for trying to cross the border illegally

Maryja Kalesnikava, a member of the presidium of the Belarusian opposition Coordination Council, was arrested while trying to illegally cross the country’s border with Ukraine, Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported on Tuesday.

“Maryja Kalesnikava tried to leave the territory of the Republic of Belarus illegally, but was detained at the border,” the report told Telegram.

According to BetTA, Coordinating Council members Anton Radniankov and Ivan Kravtsov left Belarus tonight.

“They are currently on Ukrainian territory,” the report said.

The official media distributed a video in which the Executive Secretary of the Coordination Council I. Kravtsov speaks about the decision to leave Belarus. The recording was made a few minutes before Kravtsov crossed the border, BelTA said.

“I decided to leave the territory of the country. And now we, including Mary Kalesnikav, will cross the border of the Republic of Belarus and leave for a while, “says Kravtsov in the recording.

Earlier, the Belarusian opposition announced that it would not be possible to contact Mr. Kalesnikava, Mr. Radniankov and Mr. Kravtsov as of Monday morning.

According to witnesses, the portal tut.by reported that M. Kalesnikava had been approached by an unknown person in a minibus in the center of Minsk on Monday morning and taken somewhere.

Pavel Latuška, a member of the Presidium of the Coordinating Council, told the Interfax news agency at the time that M. Kalesnikava may have been detained.

Mr. Latuška, who left Belarus, also said that his decision was related to pressure exerted by him by the Committee for State Security (KGB).

Volha Kavalkova, a member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council, and Valer Capkala, a former candidate for the presidency of Belarus, also left Belarus. On August 15, he announced that he had been tried in Belarus; your search was published later. V. Capkala and his wife Veranika are currently in Warsaw.

Protests against the results of the presidential elections on August 9 have been going on in Belarus for almost a month. Its winner was President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994. The opposition and Western countries consider these elections to be rigged.

Lukashenko’s main rival in the elections, Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, withdrew to Lithuania immediately after the elections.