President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday ordered the army to take " the strictest measures " to defend the territorial integrity of Belarus, rocked by a protest movement since the controversial presidential election on 9 August.
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For her part, in an interview with AFP in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital where she took refuge after the disputed election that she claims to have won, the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, estimated that this decision by the head of state was " an attempt to distract us from domestic problems " and called for the continuation of the demonstrations against the regime.
65-year-old Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for 26 years, went on Saturday to inspect the military units deployed in Grodno, in the west, near the Polish border, according to a statement released by the Belarusian presidency. Arrived on the military polygon of this city, he denounced the protest movement impelled according to him " from the outside ". " I order the Minister of Defense [...] to defend above all the western pearl of Belarus whose center is in Grodno. And to take the most stringent measures to defend the territorial integrity of our country, ”declared Alexander Lukashenko.
He affirmed to note " important acts of the NATO forces in the immediate vicinity " of the Belarusian borders, on the Polish and Lithuanian territories. In this context, Alexander Lukashenko announced that most of the Belarusian armed forces had been placed on alert.
These statements come at a time when large Belarusian military maneuvers are planned in the Grodno region, between August 28 and 31.
" Propaganda of the regime "
President Lukashenko's government " seeks to distract attention from internal Belarusian problems at all costs with completely baseless statements about imaginary external threats ," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told AFP.
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Krzysztof Szczerski, the chief of staff of the Polish president, reacted on the same register, describing the declarations of the Belarusian head of state as " propaganda of the regime ", which he described as " deplorable and astonishing ". " Poland (...) has no such project ," he told the Polish press agency PAP.
The leading figure of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, for her part considered in his interview with AFP that Alexander Lukashenko had no other choice but to engage in dialogue with the opposition.
" I am so proud of the Belarusians now because, after 26 years of fear, they are ready to stand up for their rights ." " I call on them to continue, not to stop, because it is really important now to remain united in the fight for our rights ", she again declared, on the eve of important demonstrations scheduled for Sunday in Belarus. “ They have to understand that we are not a protest movement. We are the people of Belarus, we are a majority and we will not leave. We are no longer afraid of them, ”hammered this 37-year-old English teacher.
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Facing an unprecedented protest movement in his country, a former Soviet republic, and claiming to have won the presidential election with 80% of the vote, Alexander Lukashenko for his part announced on Friday that he would " solve the problem " of the movement of protest.
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A " coordination council ", intended to promote the political transition after the election, was formed this week by the opposition but the authorities began Thursday against him for prosecution for " attacking national security ".
US Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will visit Lithuania and Russia next week to discuss the situation in Belarus. He plans to meet Svetlana Tikhanovskaya on this occasion, according to her entourage.