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Lukashenko has denied that his country’s security services are responsible for the death of a Belarusian activist in Ukraine, as well as for the forced return home of an athlete who participated in the Tokyo Olympics.
An autocrat who has ruled the country since 1994 claimed he had won a “totally transparent” election last August, accusing the opposition of plans to stage a “coup.”
However, the human rights organization Amnesty International said on Monday that thousands of Belarusians have been detained, forced to move abroad or are living in fear since the protests began.
“What repression? – said Mr. Lukashenko at an annual press conference that lasted several hours – Did I shoot someone? Have I killed someone?”
The president has denied the widespread reports of torture in Belarusian prisons. Local human rights organizations have collected evidence of torture and say there are more than 600 political prisoners in Belarus.
The president also said his country’s KGB service had nothing to do with the death of 26-year-old Belarusian activist Vitaly Shyshov, who was found hanged in a park in Kiev last week.
Following this event, Ukraine has promised additional protection for Belarusian citizens who have come to the country in recent years and may be at risk.
“It was nothing to us,” Lukashenko told a press conference in Minsk, adding that the death of activist Shyshov had strained relations between Minsk and Kiev.
“What madman would go and repeat it?” He said, adding that “there are enough people without Shishov to deal with.”
Mr. Lukashenko also denied that Minsk had attempted to forcibly return Belarusian athlete Kryscin Cimanouskaya from the Tokyo Olympics when he publicly criticized the Belarusian Athletics Federation. He claimed that the sprinter was “owned” by Poland, which had granted him a humanitarian visa.
The president denied that the country’s political leaders had tried to board the athlete on a plane flying to Minsk.
According to Lukashenko, there were “no” KGB agents at the Tokyo Olympics.
“The year has not been easy”
Lukashenko’s regime has been increasingly criticized this summer, especially over the Olympian’s flight abroad and the activist’s death.
The head of state, who claims to have collected more than 80 percent. votes in the 2020 vote, he vowed to resist Western pressure and accused the Belarusian opposition of attempting a “coup” last year.
“Some were preparing for fair and just elections, others for a coup,” he told officials and journalists.
The opposition believes that the real winner is Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, who participated in the elections in place of her imprisoned husband and who currently lives in Lithuania.
Cichanouskaya has recently been mobilizing Western support and recently met with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Lukashenko acknowledged that “the year had not been easy” and that the political crisis “threatened” national unity.
“We will never stumble”
The trial of the last remaining protest leader in Belarus, Mary Kalesnikava, began in Minsk last week.
Ms. Kalesnikava has been in detention since September, when she tore up her passport and thus resisted attempts by KGB agents to forcibly deport her.
This summer, the Belarusian government also forced the closure of more than 50 independent organizations and searched the homes and offices of dozens of journalists.
Lukashenko, backed by Moscow, believes that the current crisis is the result of tense relations between the West and Russia.
On Monday, he condemned Western sanctions on his regime and vowed not to succumb to international pressure.
“They will never trip us,” said the authoritarian leader.
His rival S. Cichanouskaja, who now lives in Lithuania, plans to hold a demonstration in Vilnius to mark the anniversary of the elections.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned last month that EU member states were preparing tougher sanctions that would extend existing measures to Lukashenko and his comrades.
An appropriate decision could be made at the EU ministerial meeting next month.
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