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EU leaders to warn Russia against Belarus interference

Belarus protests
EU leaders will hold a special online summit on Wednesday (19 August) backing Belarusian protesters and telling Russia not to interfere, top EU officials said on Monday.

European Council president Charles Michel called for the extraordinary video summit as mass protests continued in Belarus against long-time president Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed a landslide victory in an election on 9 August, which the opposition says was rigged.

Lukashenko's security forces brutally cracked down on initial protests, which prompted the biggest rally in the country's modern history over the weekend against the strongman.

"The people of Belarus have the right to decide on their future and freely elect their leader," said Michel in a tweet announcing the summit of the 27 leaders.

"Violence against protesters is unacceptable and cannot be allowed," he added.

EU leaders are also expected to send a message to Russia not to meddle in Belarus, as Russian president Vladimir Putin offered military help to Lukashenko.

"The people of Belarus have the right to determine their own future. To allow for this, violence has to stop and a peaceful and inclusive dialogue has to be launched. The leadership of Belarus must reflect the will of the people," Michel told the 27 EU leaders in an invitation letter.

"There should be no outside interference," Michel wrote, without naming Russia.

"The people of Belarus have the right to determine their future and to choose their leaders freely," a senior EU official said about the message EU leaders want to push on Wednesday, adding that the bloc "wants to send an important message of solidarity to the people of Belarus".

Michel called the violence against protesters "shocking", adding that those responsible must be held to account.

The leaders are also expected to discuss help to the country of 9.5 million people, where Lukashenko's 26-year rule has been shaken to the core.

Poland and Baltic support


Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, EU-member neighbours of Belarus, called for EU funds to the victims of the crackdown, support for independent media, academia, and civil society.

Poland, the three Baltic states and others have called for EU mediation between Lukashenko and the opposition.

"We are also reiterating our readiness to support the political process that will implement the free will of the Belarusian people," Polish president Andrzej Duda tweeted on Monday.

Poland on Monday pledged €11 million in funding to help Belarussians to pay for visas and resettle in Poland.

Czech foreign minister Tomáš Petříček said the EU needed to send a clear signal that a Russian military engagement in the ex-Soviet state was unacceptable.

Czech PM Andrej Babiš over the weekend also warned against Russian interference, referring to the 1968 Soviet crackdown of the Prague Spring.

Belarus protestsGermany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday urged the military in Belarus not to use violence against Belarus protestors.

The EU already agreed, last Friday, to impose sanctions on Belarusian officials responsible for election fraud and the violent crackdown on mass protests. Officials would be barred from entering the EU and their assets would be frozen.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany was prepared to back broader EU sanctions against Belarus, adding that further measures would depend on Minsk's next moves.

Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday that Budapest backed Poland's call for new presidential election in Belarus with international monitoring.

Hungary has earlier called for EU dialogue with Lukashenko, while in June, Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán called for a complete lifting of EU sanctions on Minsk.

Lukashenko, meanwhile, said on Monday he would be ready to hold new elections and hand over power after a constitutional referendum once pressure from protesters is gone, according to Reuters.

Source: euobserver.com, Z. Zalan, August 18, 2020

Tikhanovskaya to hold first transition council meeting, EU opens talks with opposition


S. TikhanovskayaThe first meeting of nominal president-elect of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's Transfer of Power Coordination Council will be held on August 18 to begin the process of bringing in a new government ahead of fresh elections.

"We're starting to form the Coordination Council. It will be an extended working group of the most respected members of the society to discuss and develop safe and stable mechanisms to ensure the transition of power," Tikhanovskaya said in a statement. 

The statement also said that the HQ has started receiving applications of potential members of the council. A member of the council must enjoy "great respect of the society" and be "ready to share ideas for the changes for the better, constructively discuss proposals and respect the opinion of other members of the council," the HQ said.

Tikhanovskaya in a new video says she is ready to become the national transitional leader. “I never wanted to be a political leader, but fate conspired to put me on [the] frontline in [the] battle against arbitrary rule and injustice.... You gave me strength... Truth isn't on the side of force of arms; truth is on the side of strength of spirit, honesty, decency and courage." 

Dozens of prominent representatives of civil society, big private business and workers' delegates became members of the council. Among the names is Svetlana Alexievich, who won a Nobel prize for literature in October 2015 for a book that depicts the harsh realities of life in the Soviet Union. She has been an outspoken critic of the Lukashenko government. 

“I was quite surprised to see Alexander Zentner. He's one of the richest people in Belarus, the largest real estate developer, one of those who have a lot to lose. The organisers admit, though, that without representatives of siloviki and the state sector it'd be rather pointless,” Tadeusz Giczan tweeted, a Belarusian PhD candidate at University College London School of Slavonic & East European Studies.

The focus is now switching from street protests to launching a legal attack on the administration of Belarus' self-appointed President Alexander Lukashenko.

The headquarters of arrested unregistered presidential candidate Viktor Babariko made a demand at the start of the weekend that new elections must be held by September 15.

"To announce new honest election before September 15 with the participation of all alternative candidates under the observation of international organisations with new election commissions, a new Central Election Committee, video surveillance, open vote count," the statement noted.

Separately the National Salvation Front of Belarus, which was created Valery Tsepkalo, a presidential candidate who was denied registration and now in exile in Ukraine, announced on August 13 that it would bring a case against Lukashenko before International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing the president of human rights abuses.

And back in Minsk, Belarus’ opposition was in court on August 17 demanding a criminal case be opened against law enforcement agencies over its excessive use of force to disperse protests, according to Maria Kolesnikova, one of the trio that campaigned against Lukashenko and the only one of the three that is still in Minsk.

"[On August 17], we will lodge a motion to open a criminal case over the death of people and illegal actions of law enforcers. All those who used violence must be held responsible under the Belarusian laws," she said as cited by Maxim Znak, an attorney of Tikhanovskaya’s election team.

In the meantime, the state has nailed its flag to the mast. Lukashenko said again at a meeting with workers of a truck-maker that went disastrously wrong for him that there would be no new elections. The head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidiya Yermoshina also reiterated that the August 9 election results were final. There are reports that the CEC has already burnt all the ballot papers from the August 9 election to prevent a re-count.

Yermoshina said before the weekend that all complaints filed by candidates in the country’s recent presidential election have been rejected.

"All of them have been rejected. We have no choice. People think that we have the authority to review [the results] and declare Tikhanovskaya the winner, but this is impossible. If violations, which they claim had taken place, are confirmed, the elections can be declared invalid. In this case, another election campaign with new candidates should take place within three months," she said in an interview with KP Belarus.

EU getting more involved in Belarus crisis


Alexander Lukashenko
After a slow start the EU is staring to get more involved in the Belarusian crisis. Most of the delegates to the Brussels have now openly rejected the August 9 presidential election results, further undermining Lukashenko's legitimacy.

They released a joint statement that went to the length of making the Belarusian strongman a persona non grata in the EU.

"We join the Belarusian people in its demands of new and free elections under surveillance of independent supervisors", the statement says.

Another emergency meeting on Belarus is slated to be held on August 18 and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to hold a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin the same day to discuss the situation in Minsk.

With rumours of an imminent invasion flying again, this time not into Ukraine but Belarus, Brussels has also warned the Kremlin not to interfere with the what is a domestic political crisis, while at the same time MEPs have called for the EU to get a lot more involved.

A spokesperson for the government Brussels has admitted that the EU has opened talks with Tikhanovskaya who is currently in Lithuania, but revealed no details of the subject of the talks.

Source: intellinews.com, Ben Aris, August 18, 2020



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