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Moscow is withdrawing troops from the Belarusian border, troops that should have served as a reserve police force if the protests had turned violent, Russian news agency TASS reported Monday, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry. Peskov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko met in the Russian town of Sochi on Monday, at a time when Lukashenko faces large-scale protests in the country after the August 9 presidential elections, that according to the opposition have been defrauded. .
“An important result of the talks of the two Sochi presidents is the agreement for Russia to eliminate reserve units of the police and national guard that were deployed near the Russia-Belarus border, and the people were sent to their permanent bases “. spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after the meeting.
At the same time, the Belarusian leader confirmed during a meeting with Vladimir Putin that he wants to amend the constitution, Peskov said.
“Lukashenko has confirmed his intention to amend the constitution,” the spokesman said after a two-hour meeting of the two Sochi presidents.
The details of this revision of the constitution, backed by Moscow and already evoked by Lukashenko, remain vague. The Belarusian president said in late August that “specialists” were working on the reform, which would then be put to a “referendum.”
Peskov confirmed that Moscow will provide a $ 1.5 billion loan to Belarus, whose economic difficulties have been exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis.
Despite the unprecedented protest movement that has rocked Belarus since early August, Lukashenko remains “the country’s legitimate president and Vladimir Putin’s interlocutor,” Peskov said.
“We want what is happening in Belarus not to happen through unconstitutional processes, but within the law,” he added.
The meeting with Putin is Lukashenko’s first meeting with a foreign leader since the beginning of the protests against his re-election.
Publisher: BP
