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The United States, Britain and Canada plan to impose sanctions on Belarusian citizens involved in rigging the presidential elections and violence against peaceful protesters.
Alexander Lukashenko has once again been sworn in as President of Belarus, but his authority is not recognized either within the country or abroad. The West imposes sanctions, Belarusians take to the streets. And the Old Man pretends that nothing is wrong.
Correspondent.net continues to monitor the situation in Belarus.
Harsh repression of protests
On Wednesday, September 23, massive protests against Alexander Lukashenko’s secret inauguration took place in different cities of Belarus. People took to the streets of Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Grodno, Soligorsk and other cities. About 5-7 thousand people protested in different districts of Minsk. Hard repressions and arrests of people began almost immediately. Water cannons were used against the protesters. Protesters were also beaten with batons, electric shocks were applied to them. The riot police yelled at the people to leave: “Go away, today is going to hurt!”
More than 250 people were detained throughout Belarus, 200 of them in Minsk.
The real hero of the protests was a taxi driver who helped a protester in Minsk escape persecution.
The video posted on the network shows how a young man, fleeing from the special forces, got into a white taxi, after which the driver gasped sharply, avoided a collision with a car, drove into the oncoming lane, circled other cars on the lawn and disappeared nights.
International reaction
Lukashenko, after a secret inauguration ceremony, was congratulated by the leader of only one country: the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
Lukashenka himself said that “according to the laws of Belarus, we should not warn anyone from the western states and generally warn anyone” about the inauguration.
“This is an internal matter of our country. And there is only one criticism: it is a secret, then a sacrament. You know, some 2,000 people were invited to the inauguration, along with the military. And it is almost impossible to keep it a secret” he said Thursday.
The United States, Britain and Canada plan to impose sanctions on Belarusian citizens involved in rigging the presidential elections and violence against peaceful protesters.
A senior US State Department official told Reuters that the United States is considering sanctions against seven Belarusians who it believes were involved in election fraud and violence against protesters.
Most EU countries have stated that they do not recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president. This was also stated by the United States and Canada.
The European Union already officially awaits new democratic elections in Belarus.
Ukraine stocks
The Ukrainian state does not consider Lukashenka’s inauguration legitimate.
“Ukraine has never interfered in any way in the internal affairs of Belarus and will always support the Belarusian people. Considering the course of the election campaign in Belarus and other events, today’s “inauguration” of Lukashenka does not mean that he is recognized as the legitimate head of the Belarusian state, ”said Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba.
After that, someone thanked the Foreign Ministry for finally deciding to speak out about Lukashenka’s illegitimacy. Others reproached him for being too soft, for example Ukraine did not call Lukashenka a “former president”.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, warned Lukashenko that without initiating a dialogue with the protesters, the current government “will soon leave”.
He noted that one can “talk for a long time about friendly and brotherly people and historical friendship,” but the Maidan’s experience in Ukraine showed how protests can change if the authorities respond to them with violence.
“We remember how they buried the Ukrainians who were killed on the Maidan, how the buildings were burned. What we see today is that if the authorities do not stop the actions of law enforcement officers directed against their people, they will receive a very powerful response from people”. his people – this power will not be. And here Ukraine will always support our partners. Here we are like-minded people with all European countries, “Zelensky said.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry criticized countries, including Ukraine, for their statements about the lack of recognition of Lukashenka’s legitimacy.
“The Belarusian people do not need to” legitimize “their power through so-called” legitimators. “This question is implausible and artificial. Attempts by certain Western countries to question the legitimacy of the head of state in no way reflect the views of the overwhelming majority of the international community, “believes Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
“Particularly surprising is the behavior of our Ukrainian neighbors, who no longer even try to camouflage their lack of independence when making their foreign policy decisions and do not stop the flow of statements with their supposedly ‘advanced’ assessments of our domestic political situation for some reason. “says the statement.
It is obvious that now Ukraine and Belarus await a completely new stage of relations.
