Lukashenko Faces Protesters in Belarus as Russia Weighs Options
Tens of thousands protested against Lukashenko in Belarus as opposition leaders seek his resignation.
(Bloomberg) -- Tens of thousands protested against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in the country’s capital as opposition leaders seek to maintain pressure for his resignation after a disputed presidential election.
More than 100,000 people braved rainy weather on Sunday to occupy Independence Square in Minsk, the Belarus news site Tut.by reported, amid a sprawling security presence. Police patrols on main highways leading to Minsk slowed incoming traffic, making it harder for protesters from other parts of the country to reach the capital.
Lukashenko is confronting the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule after claiming a landslide in the Aug. 9 election, which triggered protests and international condemnation of the vote. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the results, has been spurring followers to take to the streets, while urging foreign powers not to intervene.
Sunday’s crowd spilled out of Independence Square, the home of parliament and other government buildings. Demonstrators chanted “MTZ,” in honor of striking workers at the Minsk Tractor Plant, and “Tribunal,” a call for Lukashenko to face justice.
After the rally ended peacefully, Russian and Belarusian media published a video showing Lukashenko arriving at his Minsk residence in a bulletproof vest and carrying an automatic rifle.
The opposition that backed Tikhanovskaya’s bid for the presidency is seeking to reassure Russia that any change of power wouldn’t necessarily push Belarus closer to the European Union and NATO.
Russia signaled on Sunday that it isn’t convinced. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Tikhanovskaya of harboring an allegedly anti-Russian political agenda, telling a forum near Moscow that he also supports a constitutional reform plan by Lukashenko as “very promising.”
After resisting Russian demands last year for closer ties, Lukashenko has turned to President Vladimir Putin for support.
Putin is in regular contact with Lukashenko, but there may be little appetite in Moscow for a Russian military intervention to support Lukashenko should his grip on power weaken, according to the people close to Putin’s inner circle.
Ukraine’s Shadow
While police have largely tolerated recent public gatherings, they carried out a brutal crackdown in the first days after the elections and have detained nearly 7,000 people amid allegations of torture in custody.
Lukashenko on Saturday called on citizens to “forgive” law-enforcement authorities, suggested western governments want to remove him by military force and said NATO troops “are coming closer to our borders” — a claim North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials dismissed as baseless.
It was neighboring Ukraine’s shift toward Europe that contributed to Russia annexing part of that country and supporting a six-year war by Moscow-backed separatists against the Ukrainian government.
The EU is treading a fine line in trying to move more aggressively to assure geopolitical stability in the region without inciting a strong reaction from Putin, who has warned the bloc not to interfere.
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