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'There will be no revolution': Lukashenko vows as West condemns vote
By Andrei Makhovsky
Minsk: Facing mounting protests and a chorus of criticism from Western leaders amid allegations he rigged his re-election victory, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signalled he would not step down nor allow a "revolution".
As protesters clashed with riot police for a second night and one protester was killed, the opposition said it was ready to hold talks with the authorities.
Police use smoke grenades during a protest after the Belarusian presidential election in Minsk, Belarus.Credit: AP
Lukashenko, who also faces discontent over his handling of the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and human rights abuses, didn't respond to the offer but repeated allegations that shadowy forces abroad were trying to manipulate protesters he called "sheep" in order to topple him, something he said he would never allow.
"We won't allow the country to be torn apart," the 65-year-old leader was quoted by the Belta news agency as saying.
"They are trying to orchestrate mayhem," he said. "But I have already warned: there will be no revolution."
People demonstrate in Warsaw, Poland, in support of Belarusians after the troubled weekend vote.Credit: AP
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and its commissioner for neighbourhood, Oliver Varhelyi, said the election had been marred by "disproportionate and unacceptable state violence against peaceful protesters".
"We condemn the violence and call for the immediate release of all [those]) detained during last night," they said in a joint statement.
Neighbouring Poland wants a special EU summit on Belarus.
A former Soviet collective farm manager who has kept Belarus under tight control since 1994, Lukashenko claimed a landslide win against Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former English teacher who emerged from obscurity to lead the biggest challenge to his rule in years.
This man was wounded during clashes with police in Minsk.Credit: AP
Events are being closely watched by Russia, whose oil exports run through Belarus to the West and which has long regarded the country as a buffer zone against NATO. They are also being monitored by the West, which has tried to lure the country from Moscow's orbit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used a congratulatory telegram to nudge Lukashenko to accept deeper ties between the two nations, which the Belarusian leader has previously rejected as an assault on his country's independence.
Germany called for the European Union to discuss sanctions on Belarus that were lifted in 2016 to foster better relations.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the vote was "not free and fair" and condemned "ongoing violence against protesters and the detention of opposition supporters".
Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995, in the run-up to the vote authorities jailed Lukashenko's rivals and opened criminal investigations of others who voiced opposition.
Tikhanovskaya's campaign rallies drew some of the biggest crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Her team had not been unable to reach her by phone after she left the election commission building on Monday. Earlier she told reporters she considered herself the election winner.
"The authorities are not listening to us. The authorities need to think about peaceful ways to hand over power," said Tikhanovskaya, who entered the race after her blogger husband was jailed. "Of course we do not recognise the results."
Reuters