NATO has rejected claims that it is organizing a build-up of troops on the border with Belarus, as mass protests continue in Minsk two weeks ago against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, inspected military units in Grodno, near Belarus’s border with Poland, on Saturday and ordered security forces to be on “high alert”. He accused NATO of plotting to divide Belarus and form a new government in Minsk, saying “foreign powers” were preparing in Poland and Lithuania.
“They are shaking up the situation in our country, trying to turn the authorities around,” Lukashenko said, according to the BBC, adding that he directed his armed forces on the western border to use the “strictest measures to safeguard our territorial integrity” land. “
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“You see they are already pulling an ‘alternative president’ here,” he continued, referring to his main election challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who recently fled to Lithuania, knowing that former political opponents in Belarus have been imprisoned for years. “Military support is evident – the movement of NATO troops to the borders.”
NATO dismissed the “baseless” claims, declaring that the alliance “does not pose a threat to Belarus or any other country and has no military build-up in the region.”
“Our posture is strictly defensive,” the statement said.
NATO AWACS aircraft will deploy from 21 to 28 August in Krakow, Poland to participate in a international training event and provide exercises in air command and control for Polish and American fighter aircraft.
In this Sunday, August 16, 2020 file photo Belarusian opposition leaders rally in the center of Minsk, Belarus. The EU believes that the results of the polls on August 9, which President Alexander Lukashenko extended his sixth term by 80% of the vote, are “falsified,” and the 27-nation bloc is preparing a list of Belarus officials who may be blacklisted from Europe over their roles. (AP photo / Sergei Grits, file)
The exercise is “mandated under NATO’s Assurance Measures, carried out in 2014 following Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea. These measures are in place to ensure the eastern members of the Alliance of NATO and the solidarity of NATO, and to curb all possible aggression against NATO members. “
Lukashenko later spoke with a rally of several thousand supporters in Grodno, where he threatened to close factories that are still on strike from Monday. Strikes have hit some of the country’s major companies, including car and fertilizer manufacturers, a potential blow to the largely state-controlled economy that has struggled for years.
Poland and Lithuania both deny the allegations made by Lukashenko, with the chief of staff of Polish President Krzysztof Szczerski, calling the “sad and surprising” accusation that one of the two countries merely “regime propaganda” the territorial integrity of Belarus. would shine.
“The regime is trying at all costs to divert attention from Belarus’ internal problems with completely baseless statements about imaginary external threats,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told Agence France-Presse.
Meanwhile, a heavy presence of police and army was seen in the capital Minsk in Belarus, when protesters began to gather in the streets again on Sunday. Protests that were unusual in Belarus for their size and duration led to the August 9 presidential election, in which election officials say Lukashenko won a sixth term in a landslide. Protesters claim the results of the officials are fraudulent and ask Lukashenko to dismiss them.
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In an enormous display of resistance, an estimated 200,000 Protestants gathered on August 16 in the capital Minsk. Thousands were arrested. Tsikhanouskaya has called for another massive show of opposition this Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
