Russia has praised Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's proposals for constitutional change, citing "the best way to resolve extraordinary public protests against his 26-year rule."
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged
Belarusian civil society groups to take part in the drafting of the country's
new constitution on Tuesday.
In a question and answer session with
students of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lavrov said,
"If they want to get out of this crisis with a strong country and do not
want to escalate the conflict, they should participate." ““We are seeing
efforts to stop the situation."
Lukashenko, 66, has been staging tens of
thousands of Belarusian protests every weekend since he won more than 80
percent of the vote in the sixth term on August 9, leading to allegations of
fraud. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he had agreed to
send police reinforcements to help defuse unrest in Belarus if necessary and
ruled out a review of the results of the presidential ballot.
The United States and the European Union
have refused to accept Lukashenko's re-election.
Opposition parties have stated they will
not run in the by-elections, but Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya has called on
Lukashenko to return to power. His proposal for constitutional change - which
he has made in the past - has received little support from his critics.
On Monday, he announced a referendum on
constitutional amendments focused on judicial reform. Lukashenko has rejected
opposition demands for a return to the 1994 constitution, which was later
amended’ to strengthen the presidency.
The Belarusian leader responded to mass
arrests and brutal security crackdowns that failed to stop workers' protests
and strikes. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Tuesday, removing hundreds
of protesters by truck.
The Kremlin sees Belarus, home to 9.5
million sandwiches between Russia and three members of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, as a key thief in the fight against’ aggression by the
US-led military coalition.
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