Moscow, Nov. 6, (dpa/GNA) – Opposition leaders in Belarus have called on members of the military to turn away from President Alexander Lukashenko, saying that soldiers are being drawn into a war against the Belarusian people.
Addressing service members, exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and former culture minister Pavel Latushko said Lukashenko had “no resources left to stay in power” and that they should stop following his “criminal orders.”
The opposition leaders made the comments after weeks of unrelenting domestic repression of the pro-democracy movement by security forces.
There have been mass protests against Lukashenko every weekend in Minsk for nearly three months, following an August 9 presidential election that protesters allege was rigged.
Last Sunday alone 300 people were arrested, according to the Interior Ministry. Photos and videos showed security forces using flash and shock grenades against the crowd.
Amnesty International said Belarus’ leadership was “showing its deep disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms” by criminalizing peaceful protests.
Lukashenko, 66, has led Belarus, a former Soviet republic between Russia and several EU member states, for more than a quarter of a century, tolerating little dissent.
After a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Thursday, Tikhanovskaya said the two had spoken about ways out of Belarus’ political and economic woes and that she had thanked him for no longer recognizing Lukashenko as the country’s legitimate president.
GNA