Winning a sixth term August 10 by 80%, 65-year-old Soviet-style Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko rules the former Soviet satellite in a way to make 67-year-old Russian Presisent proud. Both leaders have much in common, except for the fact that Putin’s a primetime figure on the world state, not Lukashenko, who’s content to rule land-locked Belarus with an iron fist. Once the election results were known, Belarus citizens took to the streets to protest voter fraud, something known in Soviet-style regimes. Whatever the aspirations of the Belarusian people, they know that there’s no free elections under dictatorship, where Lukashenko controls the vote. After nine days of protests, 200,000 protesters Belarusian citizens took to the streets in Minsk, telling Lukashenko to “Go Away.”. “I will never cave in to pressure,” Lukashenko told tractor plant factory workers in Minsk.
Lukashenko, who’s been ruling Belarus since 1994, after the breakup of the Soviet Union Dec. 31, 1991, can’t fathom government by the consent of the governed. “Some of you might have got the impression that the government no longer exists, that it has tumbled down. The government will never collapse, you know me well,” Lukashenko told the crowd of factor workers. Speaking at the Minsk Tractor Plant, over 5,000 workers took to the streets to protest Lukashenko’s dictatorship, calling the Aug. 10 election a clear case of election fraud. When Putin won reelection March 18, 2018 by 76%, protesters also took to the streets calling out ekectuib fraud. While it’s possible Putin manipulated the vote, it’s also possible most Russian are so brainwashed iving under Putin since Dec. 31, 1998, with only brief stints serving a prime minister, only to see Putin win by big margins..
Lukashenko put down peaceful protests, turning violent when a peaceful protester was killed, shot in the chest Aug. 12 by Belarus authorities. Protesters were hit with rubber bullets, tear gas, clubs and stun grenades, the same techniques used in the United States to stop peaceful protests from turning violent. Thousands of demonstrators want exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to take over the country. “Lukashenko is a former president. He needs to go,” said Sergei Dylevsky, the leader of the protest at the Minsk Tractor Plant. Dylevsky says that Tsikhanouskaya is “our president, legitimate and elected by the people,” attesting to how some protesters want Lukashenko out. Minsk citizens know what happened in Ukraine March 1, 2014 when Putin marched the Russian Army into Ukraine, annexing the Crimean Peninsula, home to Russia’s warm water fleet.
Lukashenko tried to placate large crowds telling them he’d be willing to share power if the Constitutions is amended, a process that could take months, if not years. Protesters weren’t buying Lushenko’s stalling tactics, telling he to step down for the good of the country. “”I Lukashenko indeed cherished our independence and sovereignty as he said, he needs to step down no to give Russia a pretext for invading out country,” said 52-year-old protesters Alexander Lobcovich. “I’m afraid that the Kremlin has such a plan already,” worried that what happened in Ukraine could happen in Belarus. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he was nut building up troops in the area. “We remain vigilant, strictly defensive, and ready to deter any aggression against NATO allies,” Stotenberg said. Stoltenberg offered no help to peaceful protesters looking to redo the Aug. 10 presidential election.
Lithuanian authorities, that share a border with Belarus, expressed concern about any Russian crackdown in Belarus. Those same fears were echoed in Poland where the Pentagon has rotated Trump from Germany to Poland starting next year. “If they consider just incorporating the country in a simple way, the consequences would be unpredictable,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicus. “Russia understands Lukashenko’s weakness and is preparing its own scenario, which could envisage a deep integration in exchange from military assistance,” Khaskovsky said. Putin won’t take a coup d’etat lilkening it to neighboring Belarus, just like what happened Feb. 22, 2014 when former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanunkovych was driven from Kiev, prompting Russia’s invasion of Crirmea one week later. While Tsikhanouskaya waits in Lithuania, she shouldn’t hold her breath.
Putin has a lot of credibility at stake with kindred sprit Lukashenko. Unlike Yanukovych accused of fleecing Ukraine for his own extravagance, Lukashenko acts like a buttoned up Soviet-style leader, someone Putin won’t let fall. Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that “foreign elements” were stirring up unrest in Belarus. Calling it “foreign elements” give Putin the perfect excuse for sending in the Russian army and cracking down on unrest. Putin did it in Moscow when protesters took to the streets to protest his last election victory in 2018. “I’m ready to take on the responsibility and act as a national leader in order for the country to calm down . . . “ said Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old school teacher. “The people of Belarus have a right to decide their own future and freely elect their leader,” said European Council President Charles Michel.
