{"id":89494,"date":"2020-08-28T09:40:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T01:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=89494"},"modified":"2020-08-28T09:40:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T01:40:17","slug":"russian-pres-putin-vows-military-support-for-belarus-embattled-pres-lukashenko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=89494","title":{"rendered":"Russian Pres Putin vows military support for Belarus\u2019 embattled Pres Lukashenko"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MOSCOW, Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin
vowed military support for embattled Belarusian leader Alexander
Lukashenko on Thursday, while urging a peaceful resolution to unrest
and demonstrations that erupted after a disputed election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU ambassadors in the capital Minsk on Thursday denounced a
crackdown on the opposition in the wake of the presidential poll, in
which 65-year-old Lukashenko claimed a landslide reelection with some
80 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian strongman\u2019s relationship with Putin had soured ahead
of the August 9 ballot because Minsk refused closer integration with
Russia \u2014 and even claimed Moscow had sent mercenaries across the
border to organise riots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Putin on Thursday promised military backing for Belarus and
said Russia had set up a reserve group of law enforcement officers to
deploy if the post-vote situation deteriorated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t be used unless the situation starts to get out of
control,\u201d Putin said, unless \u201cextremist elements \u2026 begin setting
fire to cars, houses and banks, begin seizing administrative
buildings\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russia should stay out of the
Belarus crisis saying it was a \u201csovereign and independent state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki meanwhile said any Russian
intervention would be a breach of international law and the \u201chuman
rights of Belarusian people, who should be free to decide their own
fate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Putin also called on the authorities in Minsk and the
opposition to \u201cfind a way out\u201d of the crisis peacefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He conceded there were problems in Belarus, saying, \u201cotherwise
people wouldn\u2019t take to the streets\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian leader\u2019s calls for calm came after the European Union
and ambassadors of member states in Minsk condemned a crackdown on
government critics seeking new elections and Lukashenko\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition created a Coordination Council to oversee the
peaceful transition of power after their leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
fled to neighbouring Lithuania fearing reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lukashenko ordered a criminal probe into the opposition\u2019s attempts
to \u201cseize power\u201d and several of the presidium\u2019s members have been
detained or summoned for questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria Kolesnikova, an aide of Tikhanovskaya and member of the
council, was summoned by investigators for questioning on Thursday.
She said she invoked her right not to testify against herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s most prominent member, Nobel Prize-winning author and
outspoken government critic Svetlana Alexievich, was questioned by
investigators on Wednesday and also refused to answer questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the presidium\u2019s members this week were sentenced to 10 days
each in police detention for organising unsanctioned rallies and
disobeying law enforcement orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe European diplomats emphasised that prosecution of Coordination
Council members on grounds presented by the authorities is
unacceptable,\u201d a joint statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU nations have also vowed to sanction individuals they say were
involved in vote-rigging and the violent crackdown on protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU ambassadors in Minsk on Thursday said that: \u201cBelarusians are
asking for an open dialogue with their own authorities about the
future of their country,\u201d urging \u201ca peaceful and democratic process,
underpinned by independent and free media and a strong civil society\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presidium on Thursday said the formation of armed groups abroad
to intervene in Belarus was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and against the wishes of
the Belarusian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lukashenko has dismissed calls to resign or host new elections,
instead accusing Western countries and Russia of stirring political
unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authoritarian leader on Thursday said the ex-Soviet country\u2019s
European neighbours had declared a \u201cdiplomatic war\u201d and were meddling
in Belarus\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week he described demonstrators as \u201crats\u201d in a video that
showed him carrying an assault rifle, after more than 100,000 people
took to the streets to demand he stand down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around a dozen journalists working for local and international
media outlets were detained by masked law enforcement for document
checks, police in Minsk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His notorious security services rounded up nearly 7,000
participants in peaceful rallies that erupted in the days after the
vote, and hundreds of detainees claimed they were abused by police in
custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local and international rights groups have urged the UN to
investigate allegations of systematic torture at the hands of security
services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old political newcomer who ran in place of
her jailed husband, called for historic demonstrations and mass
strikes following the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workers at state-owned factories initially downed tools and joined
the walk-outs in large numbers, but fewer employees have kept up
participation due to pressure from the authorities, activists have
said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry Minister Pyotr Parkhomchik said Thursday that there were
no ongoing strikes and that \u201call assembly lines have been restarted.\u201d — NNN-AGENCIES
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW, Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putinvowed military support for embattled Belarusian leader AlexanderLukashenko on Thursday, while urging a peaceful resolution to unrestand demonstrations that erupted after a disputed election. EU ambassadors in the capital Minsk on Thursday denounced acrackdown on the opposition in the wake of the presidential poll, inwhich 65-year-old Lukashenko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":89495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89494"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}