The European Parliament (EP) did not recognize the results of the elections in Belarus and refused to consider Alexander Lukashenko the legitimate president of the country after the expiration of his current term of office.

This is stated in the resolution of the European Parliament adopted on Thursday on the situation in Belarus.

“The European Parliament, in accordance with the position of the European Council, rejects the results of the so-called presidential elections held on August 9 in Belarus, as they were held in flagrant violation of internationally recognized principles;

(The European Parliament. -

RT

) will not recognize Alexander Lukashenko as President of Belarus after his current term expires, ”the document says.

It should be noted that the EP resolutions are advisory in nature and are not legally binding documents.

Let us remind you that the presidential elections in Belarus were held on August 9.

According to the official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko got 80.1% of the vote, while his main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya got 10.12%.

The opposition did not recognize the voting results and took people to the streets.

In turn, the EU immediately came out in support of Tikhanovskaya, who left for Lithuania a few days after the elections.

However, in today's resolution, the EP did not recognize Tikhanovskaya as president, noting only that, “in the opinion of many Belarusians,” she is the winner of the presidential elections and “the elected president of Belarus”.

The resolution also notes the work of the so-called coordination council of the opposition.

“The European Parliament welcomes the Coordination Council as an intermediate structure that represents people demanding democratic change in Belarus and is open to all interested parties from political and social circles,” the document says.

European parliamentarians supported the most active Belarusian oppositionists.

In particular, a member of the coordination council Maria Kolesnikova and a representative of the joint headquarters of Tikhanovskaya Veronika Tsepkalo were honored separately.

  • Veronica Tsepkalo, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Maria Kolesnikova

  • Reuters

  • © Vasily Fedosenko

The European Parliament also announced its support for the sanctions "against persons responsible for falsifying the election results and carrying out repressions in Belarus, including Alexander Lukashenko."

“The European Parliament calls on the European Council to promptly and in close cooperation with international partners to impose large-scale and effective sanctions against all Belarusian persons who committed electoral fraud, violence and repression in Belarus;

Calls on the council to follow the example of the Baltic states, which included Lukashenka in their sanctions list, and to supplement the initially proposed list of persons subject to sanctions with a significant number of high- and medium-level officials, as well as entrepreneurs who are known to have supported the regime or were fired their employees for participating in strikes, ”the EP said.

At the same time, it was proposed to consider the possibility of imposing sanctions against Russian citizens "directly involved in providing support to the Lukashenka regime in Belarus."

"Not a single constructive thesis"

European parliamentarians condemned the use of violence against the protesters and called for the release of all detained demonstrators, as well as for the removal of all charges against the opposition, brought forward on political grounds.

In addition, the EP called on to arrange funding for the Belarusian “civil society” and provide financial assistance to Belarusian “independent” non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders and journalists.

In addition, the parliamentarians propose to create additional conditions for the study of Belarusian students in the EU.

At the same time, for those students who were expelled from universities for their "pro-democratic position", the EP wants to create special training programs.

At the same time, the EP is in favor of stopping the provision of funds to the official Minsk, including through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

In addition, the EP announced an alleged "interference" in the affairs of Belarus by the Russian Federation.

“The European Parliament condemns the hybrid interference of the Russian Federation in the affairs of Belarus, carried out, among other things, by sending so-called media experts to the state media of Belarus and consultants to the military and law enforcement structures of the country, and also calls on the government of the Russian Federation to stop any secret or open interference in the internal processes of Belarus, calls on the Russian Federation to respect international law and the sovereignty of Belarus, ”the document says.

  • European Parliament meeting

  • AFP

  • © JOHN THYS

At the same time, Moscow has repeatedly stated that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus, and urged the EU and the United States to adhere to a similar position.

In the adopted resolution, Brussels, among other things, warned Russia against concluding any deals with Lukashenka, because, in their opinion, he “has neither the political nor the moral mandate to enter on behalf of Belarus into any subsequent contractual relations, including with the Russian authorities, which may pose a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus. "

Minsk has already reacted to the resolution of the European Parliament, calling it aggressive.

“It is noteworthy that the document is clearly aggressive in nature and does not contain a single constructive or balanced thesis.

Even if we wanted to, there’s nothing to rely on, ”the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

The diplomatic service noted that the European Parliament does not understand "the processes taking place in Belarus" and is absolutely "divorced from reality, for which this body is often criticized by citizens within the EU itself." 

"No consensus"

According to Petr Petrovsky, an employee of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Brussels is trying to put pressure on those countries that “do not burn with the desire to impose sanctions against Minsk” with such a resolution.

“There is no consensus on this matter.

With this resolution, they, among other things, put pressure on those European countries that oppose sanctions and discrimination of the Republic of Belarus, "he said in an interview with RT. 

According to Petrovsky, the refusal to recognize Lukashenko as president may lead to a freeze of political contacts between Minsk and Brussels for several years, but economic ties will not suffer from this.

In turn, RANEPA lecturer Sergei Margulis believes that reluctance to recognize the election results does not mean that the EU will completely stop contacts with the Belarusian authorities.

“Belarus has repeatedly found itself isolated by the EU, but even in those conditions Brussels kept contacts with Lukashenka.

Therefore, there is no reason to believe that this time the situation will somehow change, especially given the fact that in recent months there has been renewed talk about deepening the integration of Russia and Belarus.

Europe is not interested in such a scenario, so if they completely cut off contacts with Lukashenko, he will no longer have the opportunity to balance between the two poles, and they themselves will push him towards further rapprochement with Moscow, "the expert explained in an interview with RT.

In turn, Konstantin Voronov, head of the sector of regional problems and conflicts of the European Political Studies Department of the IMEMO RAS, believes that Europe's non-recognition of Lukashenko's legitimacy will prolong the political crisis in the country.

“This is an expected decision, in my opinion, since many officials in Brussels have already said that they do not recognize Lukashenka.

But this is counterproductive, since there was already such a precedent with Venezuela, where they did not recognize Maduro as president.

It didn't lead to anything good, ”the analyst said in a comment to RT.

  • Alexander Lukashenko

  • AFP

  • © Siarhei LESKIEC

As for the calls to support NGOs and “independent” journalists in Belarus, analysts consider this to be an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the republic.

“This is a direct intervention.

Moreover, the EU has been interfering in the internal affairs of Belarus since the first days of the republic's independence with the help of various funds that exist in the country, ”Petrovsky said.

Sergey Margulis adheres to a similar point of view.

“Some EU members have been doing this for a long time, first of all, of course, Poland, which is actively trying to support forces in opposition to the current authorities in Belarus,” the expert says.

Against this background, analysts say, the European Parliament's accusations against Russia of "hybrid interference" are a clear manifestation of double standards.

Commenting on the provision of the resolution on the refusal to recognize the international treaties concluded by Lukashenka, experts noted that in this way the European Parliament demonstrates its attitude to the further integration of Russia and Belarus within the framework of the Union State.

At the same time, political analysts are confident that the EP's position will not be able to interfere with cooperation between Moscow and Minsk.

“I don’t think it will be a big problem for Russia.

This is unlikely to have any effect on integration ... Here, to a greater extent, everything depends on whether the Belarusian authorities are ready to go for further integration, ”Margulis concluded.