Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Russia on Monday (September 14th) to meet with Vladimir Putin to gain Moscow's support after a fifth consecutive weekend of protests demanding his resignation.
Lukashenko's plane landed in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Putin regularly welcomes visiting dignitaries.
Alexander Lukashenko, who is going through the most serious political crisis he has known in 26 years in power, is seeking economic and military support from Moscow in the hope of turning the situation in his favor.
The Belarusian opposition denounces the result, rigged according to it, of the presidential election won on August 9 by the outgoing president with officially 80% of the vote.
>> To read also: "If there is change in Belarus, it is because the Kremlin will have disconnected Lukashenko"
Alexander Lukashenko under pressure from the streets
Since then, tens of thousands of Belarusians have demonstrated every weekend, thousands of people have been arrested and almost all of the main opposition leaders have been detained, deported or forced to flee the country.
The opposition says they fear that Alexander Lukashenko will sell the independence of Belarus in exchange for the support of Vladimir Putin.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, leading the sling against the president and whose supporters claim she is the real winner of the election, said no deal reached between the two leaders would be valid.
"I want to remind Vladimir Putin: whatever you accept and whatever you agree on at the Sochi meeting will have no legal weight," she wrote on the Telegram social network. .
"All the agreements signed with an illegitimate Lukashenko will be reviewed by the new government. Because the Belarusian people refused to trust Lukashenko and to support him in the election. I am very sorry that you have decided to engage in dialogue with a dictator and not with the Belarusian people, ”added the opponent, who went into exile in Lithuania.
On Sunday, nearly 100,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Minsk again, shouting "you're a rat" to the president.
Police said they had arrested 774 people during protests across the country.
Military support from Moscow
Vladimir Putin said last month that he had set up a "reserve police force" at the request of Alexander Lukashenko, but that it would only be deployed when necessary.
On Monday, Russia will send paratroopers to Belarus in joint "Slavic Brotherhood" military exercises which will last until September 25, the RIA news agency as quoted by the Defense Ministry reported.
Russia has also offered to restructure Belarus' debt and support its banking system.
For Alexander Lukashenko, who has difficult relations with Vladimir Putin, the support of the Russian president could come at the cost of greater domination of Moscow over the former Soviet republic.
Russia has long pushed for closer economic integration between the two countries, including through a common currency.
Despite Alexander Lukashenko's reservations about the Russian project, the Belarusian leader could find himself in a very precarious position without Moscow's support as the protests in his country escalate.
With Reuters
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