Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has urged his defense minister to take “strict measures” to defend the country’s territorial integrity following mass protests against his claim to victory.
The 65-year-old, who said he won a sixth term with 80% of the vote in the August 9 vote, made the remarks on Saturday while inspecting military units in Grodno, near the White- border. Russia with Poland, according to the press service of the President.
Lukashenko dismissed the recent mass protests, saying he had received support from Western countries, and ordered the army to defend Western Belarus, which he described as “a pearl”.
“It is about taking the most stringent measures to protect the territorial integrity of our country,” Lukashenko said.
Opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the elections, said Lukashenko’s remarks were an attempt to ‘distract attention from our inner problems’.
Tikhanovskaya urged protesters to maintain momentum, saying Lukashenko had “no choice” but to join the opposition.
“I am now so proud of Belarusians, because after 26 years of fear they are ready to defend their rights,” she said in Vilnius, on the eve of what is expected to be massive protests on Monday. in Belarus.
‘I urge them to continue, not to stop, because it is really important now to continue to unite in the fight for rights. They need to understand that we are not a protest movement. We are people of Belarus and we are a majority and we will not leave. We are no longer afraid of them. ”
Lukashenko’s visit to Grodno preceded large-scale military exercise plans in the region between August 28-31.
The former collective farm director said NATO troops in Poland and Lithuania “seriously roamed” near their borders with Belarus and ordered his troops into full combat.
Both countries denied the accusation, while NATO called the claims baseless. “As we have already made clear, NATO does not pose a threat to Belarus or any other country and has no military build-up in the region,” it said in a statement.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told AFP: “The regime is trying to divert attention from Belarus’ internal problems at all costs with completely baseless statements about imaginary external threats.”
The chief of staff of the Polish president, Krzysztof Szczerski, dismissed the claim that Poland intended to disregard Belarus’ territorial integrity as regime propaganda, calling it “sad and surprising”.
“Poland … has no such intention,” he told Polish news agency PAP.
Lithuania’s foreign ministry has announced that US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will visit Vilnius and Russia next week for talks on Belarus and the fallout of the elections.
He plans to meet with Tikhanovskaya, her representatives told AFP.
Opponents of Europe’s longest-serving leader have staged strikes and the largest demonstrations in the ex – Soviet country’s recent history to protest his re-election and demand his resignation.
Opposition groups called for a cease-fire in Minsk on Sunday after more than 100,000 people stormed the streets of the capital and other cities in Belarus over the weekend, demanding Lukashenko’s resignation.
The European Union rejected its re-election this week and promised to lift sanctions against what it said were a substantial number of people responsible for the rigging of the vote and the outbreak of protests.
Belarussian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the opposition’s coordination council, whose members are seeking new elections and a peaceful transition of power.
Lukashenko has rejected the idea of holding another vote, calling for dismissal and accusing the opposition of trying to gain power.
On Friday, he vowed to “solve the problem” of the protest movement.
Tikhanovskaya said this week that Belarus “will never assume the current leadership” after collapsing after protests after the elections.
