Several important demonstrations are planned, Sunday, August 23, against the maintenance in power of Alexander Lukashenko, whose re-election was not recognized Wednesday by the European Union. The Belarusian president calls on the army to ensure the country's territorial integrity.

"I am so proud of Belarusians now because, after 26 years of fear, they are ready to defend their rights," Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa told AFP on Saturday.

"I call on them to continue, not to stop, because it is really important now to stand united in the fight for our rights," added the 37-year-old English teacher who had come to the meeting. presidential election of August 9. "They must understand that we are not a protest movement. We are the people of Belarus, we are a majority and we will not leave. We are no longer afraid of them."

The young woman took refuge in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where a demonstration in the form of a human chain is planned to the border with Belarus. 

"Defend the territorial integrity of our country"

On Saturday, President Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet Republic with an iron fist for 26 years, went to inspect the military units deployed in Grodno, near the Polish border, according to a statement released by the Belarusian presidency.

Arrived at the military polygon of this western city, the 65-year-old leader denounced the protest movement he said "from outside". "I order the Minister of Defense (...) to defend above all the western pearl of Belarus whose center is in Grodno. And to take the strictest measures to defend the territorial integrity of our country", said Alexander Lukashenko.

He affirmed to note "important actions of the NATO forces in the immediate vicinity" of the Belarusian borders, on the Polish and Lithuanian territories, and announced that the main part of the armed forces of the country had been placed on alert. Vast Belarusian military maneuvers are already planned in the Grodno region for the end of the month.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa considered that this decision of the Head of State was "an attempt to turn us away from internal problems" and that he had no other choice but to engage in dialogue with the opposition.

Facing an unprecedented protest movement in his country, and claiming to have won the presidential election with 80% of the vote, Alexander Lukashenko had already announced on Friday that he was going to "settle the problem" of the protest movement.

"Unfounded" accusations

Regarding the accusations formulated by Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday, the Atlantic Alliance denied the same evening any "strengthening" at the border of Belarus, ensuring that the allegations in this direction were "without foundation". "As we have already said clearly, NATO poses no threat to Belarus or any other country and has no military reinforcement in the region," read a short press release.

President Lukashenko's government "seeks to distract attention from internal Belarusian problems at all costs with completely baseless statements about imaginary external threats," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said.

Krzysztof Szczerski, the Polish president's chief of staff, reacted on the same note, describing the Belarusian head of state's statements as "regime propaganda", which he described as "deplorable and astonishing". "Poland (...) has no such project," he told the Polish press agency PAP.

US Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will visit Lithuania and Russia next week to discuss the situation in Belarus. He plans to meet Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa on this occasion, according to her entourage.

With AFP

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