The Ambassador of Belarus has been summoned to the Czech Foreign Ministry to give explanations in connection with the recent statement by the President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko about the management of protests from the Czech Republic. This was announced on Wednesday, August 13, by the Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček, according to the Parlamentni Listy edition.
The minister said that his country cannot agree with Lukashenka’s accusations.
“We want to find out why he said such words. We are waiting for the submission of evidence. We have expressed a strong protest in connection with this statement directed against the Czech Republic, ”said the head of the Foreign Ministry.
As the head of the Czech Foreign Ministry noted, the ambassador expressed “strong disagreement with what is happening in Belarus,” where, according to him, there is “suppression of rallies, cruel treatment of demonstrators.” Petrzicek also expressed dissatisfaction with the campaign, according to him, the fact that the mission of international observers was not admitted to the elections “proves that the elections were not free.”
The European Union, he said, may stop funding projects in Belarus, which are being implemented under the Eastern Partnership program. The diplomat also admitted the possibility of moving from Lithuania to the Czech Republic Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Lukashenko’s main rival in the presidential election.
The President of Belarus announced on August 10 that the protests, which began after the August 9 presidential elections in the country, were controlled from Poland, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.
On August 12, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a visit to the Czech Republic that the elections in Belarus were not free and fair, and tough actions are being taken against the demonstrators. He called the current situation in the country a tragedy.
On the same day, the authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland discussed the need for a “strong European response” to the brutality in the suppression of protests in Belarus.
Earlier this week, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the EU is exploring the possibility of sanctions against those responsible for police violence in Belarus.
On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. According to the CEC, the current head of state Alexander Lukashenko won 80.08% of the vote, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was supported by 10.09% of voters. Tikhanovskaya’s headquarters did not recognize the results of the vote, protesters took to the streets. The politician herself left the republic.
After the announcement of the preliminary results, unauthorized protests began in Minsk and other cities of Belarus, which have been going on for several days. Both civilians and security officials suffered, two people died. Thousands of protesters were detained.