Democracy movement in Belarus is facing a violent crackdown over the past two weeks as thousands of protesters are taking to the streets. They are defying riot police and risking life to demand stepping down of President Alexander Lukashenko from power since 1994. He won the 6th Presidential Election on August 9 claiming 80 per cent votes which people have denounced as blatantly rigged like all his previous elections. As it appears he is largely enjoying protection of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko met Putin on Monday who gave his backing to the embattled leader at this precarious moment. It appears Putin has a different reason to keep him afloat, least it repeats the Ukraine episode to give western leaders the leverage to take Belarus this time out of Russian orbit. He is careful any disparaging step down of Lukashenko may have also huge ramification to pro-democracy movement in Russian itself.
At least 100,000 protesters gathered in the streets of capital Minsk Sunday shouting degrading chants directed at the dictator. The leader of the mainstream opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is receiving threat on life-the only one inside the country. Others were arrested, deported or forced to flee in a country of 9.5 million people.
Meanwhile Kremlin has planned a joint ‘Slavic Brotherhood’ military exercise from next week till September 25 on Poland and Lithonia border-both NATO members to give cover to Lukashenko to put the house in order. Moscow has also set up a ‘reserve police force” which may be dispatched on Lukashenko’s request.
The EU council president Charles Michel has said they are preparing to impose sanction on Belarus to end reparations on democracy movement. But Lukashenko is blaming the West for trying to topple him and weaken Moscow.
If dictators like Lukashenko are not dealt with firmly by the West they will not hesitate to sell their countries with no respect that the country belongs to the people. They buy the army and police to be used against their own people. Lukashenko is in the process of selling the country to Russia and make the people slaves of Russia.
This modern day dictators are so power drunk that they do not love their own country or the people. To them power is everything. They must not be tolerated by the civilised world.
