European leaders on Tuesday called on Vladimir Putin to put pressure on the Belarusian head of state Lukashenko, of whom he is an essential ally, to promote a dialogue with the opposition which is protesting for the 10th consecutive day against the results of the presidential election.
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In the evening, several thousand demonstrators gathered again in Independence Square in Minsk, waving the red and white flags of the opposition and calling for the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko, who claims to have won 80 % of votes in the August 9 ballot. Vladimir Putin, Belarus' closest partner and whose attitude will be crucial to the outcome of the crisis, for his part had three separate telephone conversations with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
The French president called on Putin to “promote appeasement and dialogue” in this country while Angela Merkel stressed that Minsk must “renounce violence” and start a dialogue with the opposition. Charles Michel for his part called for a “peaceful and truly inclusive dialogue” . The Kremlin has warned each time against “any attempt at foreign interference” and denounced the “pressure” exerted on the Belarusian authorities. According to the Belta news agency, Vladimir Putin informed Lukashenko by telephone of the content of his conversations with European leaders.
Belarus is to be the subject of an extraordinary EU summit on Wednesday, with the key to extending to other Belarusian officials the sanctions already taken last week after the crackdown on protests. Since the disputed election of August 9, pressure has been mounting on Alexander Lukashenko, who has led his country since 1994 but who faces daily rallies of opponents and a strike movement affecting several key sectors of the industry.
"Friendly relations" desired with Moscow
Speaking to his Security Council, the Belarusian president accused the opposition of seeking to seize power and threatened to "cool some hotheads" , addressing members of a "Coordination Council" for the political transition, which organized a first press conference on Tuesday. He assured in particular that the opposition wanted to cut ties with Russia, which denied Maria Kolesnikova, one of the opposition figures. "I want to assure everyone of our official position: we will maintain friendly, mutually beneficial, pragmatic relations (...) with Russia as well as with Ukraine and the countries of the EU" , she declared. during the press conference. "We are only beginning to feel like an independent nation" , she continued, adding that the main objective of the opposition is "the organization of a new honest presidential election" .
Nobel laureate for literature Svetlana Alexievich will be part of the “Coordination Council” , whose first official meeting will take place on Wednesday. From Lithuania where she took refuge, the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, for her part, in a video broadcast on YouTube, described as fabricated the accusations against her husband Sergei, who had applied before d. 'To be in jail. "All these blatant injustices and this arbitrariness show us how this rotten system works, in which one person controls everything," said Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. “One person has kept the country in fear for 26 years. A person stole their choice from Belarusians ”. Candidate by default after the imprisonment of her husband, this 37-year-old woman had to everyone's surprise gathered crowds of supporters at her meetings and obtained the support of other opponents, succeeding in creating an unprecedented dynamic around her candidacy.
Demonstrations, strikes, resignations
After the election, four evenings of protests were forcibly put down by police, killing at least two and injuring dozens while more than 6,700 people were arrested. The Interior Ministry reported on Tuesday a third death, that of a young man hit by a car while demonstrating. Those detained have reported beatings and torture.
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On Sunday, the opposition organized the largest rally in Belarusian history with more than 100,000 participants and called for a strike followed at several leading industrial companies, from potash producer Belaruskali to a manufacturing plant in heavy vehicles (MZKT), where Lukashenko was heckled Monday by workers. Several small demonstrations were organized on Tuesday in the capital, including one in front of a prison to wish a "happy birthday" to Sergei Tikhanovsky who is celebrating his 42 years and one in support of the Minsk State Academic Theater including the director Pavel Latouchko, also a former Minister of Culture, was sacked after having defected. The first Belarusian diplomat to publicly support the demonstrators, Belarusian Ambassador to Slovakia Igor Lechtchenia, for his part, announced his resignation.