Belarusians gather in Minsk in thousands for biggest protest yet
Source: the guardian
Alexander Lukashenko claims Vladimir Putin has offered him ‘comprehensive help’
Shaun Walker in Minsk
Sun 16 Aug 2020 08.12 EDT
Thousands of Belarusians have gathered in the capital Minsk for what could be the biggest protest in the country’s history, as an extraordinary week of rising protest sentiment comes to a close.
Just seven days after the country’s authoritarian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed to have secured 80% of the vote in a presidential ballot, his legitimacy is in tatters and his regime is facing its biggest crisis since he first came to power 26 years ago. The protest mood on Sunday was stoked further by egregious police violence against thousands of protesters earlier in the week.
The protest, set for 2pm local time on Minsk’s Independence Avenue, came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told Lukashenko in a phone call on Sunday that Moscow stood ready to provide help in accordance with a collective military pact if necessary.
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The Kremlin said in a statement that external pressure was being applied to Belarus. It did not say by who.
Lukashenko on Sunday addressed a crowd of several thousand supporters in front of the country’s parliament, who waved Belarusian flags and cheered him. Visibly emotional, he said he had no intention of giving up the country, and suggested Nato forces were preparing to invade.
“I have never betrayed you and I never will,” he said, bowing to the assembled crowd. “If you destroy Lukashenko, it will be the beginning of the end for you.”
Earlier on Saturday, Lukashenko appealed to Putin’s visceral fear of revolution at home and suggested that if his regime fell, the Russian president was also in danger. “This is a threat not just to Belarus … if Belarusians do not hold out, the wave will head over there too,” he said in televised remarks to a meeting of advisers, claiming that the protests were organised by shadowy figures from abroad.
“Both sides expressed confidence that all the problems that have arisen will be resolved soon,” said a Kremlin transcript of the phone call between the two men.
Russia and Belarus are technically part of a “union state”, but Lukashenko has resisted closer integration in recent years and proved a tricky partner for the Kremlin. Still, Putin will be keen to keep Belarus as a strategic ally and not to see street protests win out in yet another neighbouring state.
Lukashenko’s challenger in last week’s vote, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was forced to flee to neighbouring Lithuania last Monday, called on Belarusians to protest this weekend in a video address released on Friday.............................
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/16/belarus-prepares-for-biggest-protest-yet-after-week-of-anger
Looks like Putin has control over Belarus.
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Opposition supporters protest against presidential election results in Minsk
People take part in a rally in Minsk to protest against presidential election results, 15 August. Photograph: Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters
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