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Besieged by street demonstrations , overwhelmed by strikes and singled out by Europe after revealing the sadism of his police, Alexander Lukashenko has decided to turn to his 'older brother': Vladimir Putin. And to achieve immediate effect, on Saturday he invoked his name in public, announcing at a meeting his intention to speak with the Russian leader about the "threat" against his country and "the entire region."

According to Lukashenko, Belarus is facing a "color revolution". This term is the one used by the Kremlin to refer to the revolts caused by popular movements (in countries such as Georgia, Ukraine or Russia itself) essentially supported - according to this theory - from abroad to provoke a change in the Government. Lukashenko has warned that if he falls, the disorders will reach neighboring Russia .

Moscow has limited itself to "trusting" in a quick way out of the crisis. "The two sides expressed their confidence in a forthcoming solution to their current problems" in Belarus, the Russian Presidency said in a statement after the telephone dialogue between Putin and Lukashenko.

Around the same time, two enemies of the Belarusian autocrat appeared on the Russian police wanted list. On the one hand, the aspiring president of Belarus, Valery Tsepkalo , who left the country last month fearing arrest and took refuge for a few days in Moscow. On the other hand, Stepan Putilo , creator of the Telegram channel Nexta, who has shown the whole world the protests of Belarusians and the brutal police response at a time when the country is closed to almost all foreign journalists. Tsepkalo confirmed that a criminal case has been opened against him for bribery. Putilo has lived in Poland since 2018.

Moscow has not given details on Saturday about how Putin is willing to help Lukashenko and what he will ask in return. The Belarusian official media have also not exhibited any achievements of the call of their 'eternal' president, who has been in power since 1994. It will soon be known if Lukashenko has a 'Russian ace' up his sleeve or if he is trying to buy time. Opposition candidate Svetlana Tijanovskaya, a refugee in Lithuania, has formed a Coordination Council for the transfer of power. As happened in the Ukraine crisis, the pulse to resolve the situation is nothing but the external representation of the race for power. On the board: the lives of the protesters and a range of interests linked to the longest-lived personalist regime in Europe today.

Moscow can tip the balance . Especially if it is to avoid that the chips are placed in a more convenient way for Washington and Brussels. From the RT channel, financed by the Russian Government, its director, Margarita Simonian, already suggested on Friday that it was time for 'the kind men' (a nickname that Russian soldiers received without a banner during the illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine) put order as they know. "But in Belarus there are no pro-Russian regions that Moscow can incite against more anti-Russian ones. The brutality of the security forces has made rejection a cross-cutting phenomenon.

Lukashenko's regime, which has all its rivals in jail or exile, is a historical but irregular ally of Russia. The Belarusian head of state at the time accused Moscow of wanting to reduce his country to vassal status and after interfering in the elections on August 9 by sending Wagner mercenaries, 32 of whom were discovered and detained in Minsk last month. Lukashenko, who called them "terrorists" just two weeks ago, returned them to Moscow this Saturday without trial. The Belarusian autocrat has met with the army chiefs: "We will not hand over the country to anyone. We know that because we are in the center of Europe we have to be ready to respond to any challenge." But Lukashenko knows that this time the challenge comes from within.

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