As the European Union and Britain sanction, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said at the untitled assembly of the United Nations General Assembly of World Leaders that “interference in our internal affairs, sanctions and other restrictions opposed to Belarus will have the opposite effect and are destructive. surely for everyone. “
“We call on our partners to demonstrate wisdom, moderation, and impartiality,” he said in a pre-recorded address to the United Nations consultation of the coronavirus pandemic.
Makei’s speech came hours after the last of a series of large-scale protests in Belarus in favor of President Alexander Lukashenko’s august 9 re-election, which his conflicting parties said had been manipulated. swearing on a new mandate in a secret and unforeseen ceremony.
The protests are by far the largest and most persistent in Belarus since its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Makei’s statements to the foreign community, which included the fact that “the other people made their decision” in the elections, can simply fuel additional protests on Sunday. Meetings are usually the largest on Sundays, attracting up to 200,000 more people.
During the first 3 days of protests in August, police used tear gas, pores and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Several protesters were killed, many wounded and about 6,000 arrested.
Amid foreign outrage over repression, the Belarusian government pursues the main activists: many members of the Coordination Council, an organization that the opposition has formed to drive a power transition, have been arrested or forced to leave the country.
Last week, the UN Human Rights Council followed a solution calling for an investigation into possible human rights violations through Lukashenko’s government, with a report to come until the end of the year.
The United States and the European Union questioned the election and criticized the police movements that oppose nonviolent protesters. The EU is contemplating sanctions for senior Belarusian officials, but has failed to agree on enforcing them this week and plans to continue talks next week. Britain said Thursday that it is running on sanctions and also in talks with the United States and Canada.
EU Council President Charles Michel told the General Assembly Friday in his own video address that “repression and intimidation will have to stop” and that the culprits will be held accountable.
“We, the other Belarusians, who will have to be free, without external restrictions, to decide on their own future,” Michel said, calling for an inclusive national discussion facilitated through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Lukashenko became enraged by the councils to start a discussion with the opposition and presented the protests as a component of a Western plot to isolate Russia, which is its main sponsor and ally.
Makei said the scenario in Belarus is “really complex,” but he brazened western countries’ court cases as interference with “cynicism-filled statements. “
“In fact, these are not attempts to bring chaos and anarchy to our country to lose many years of progression in Belarus,” the chancellor said.
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