Putin vows military support for Belarus’s Lukashenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin vows military support for embattled Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, while urging a peaceful resolution to unrest and demonstrations that erupted after a disputed election.

EU ambassadors in the capital Minsk denounce a crackdown on the opposition in the wake of the presidential poll, in which 65-year-old Lukashenko claimed was a landslide reelection, with some 80 percent of the vote.

The Belarusian strongman’s relationship with Putin had soured ahead of the August 9 ballot because Minsk refused closer integration with Russia — and even claimed Moscow had sent mercenaries across the border to organize riots.

Yet Putin now promises military backing for Belarus and says Russia has set up a reserve group of law enforcement officers to deploy if the post-vote situation deteriorates.

A demonstrator holding up a placard reading ‘Drive away evil’ attends a rally of opposition supporters to protest against disputed presidential election results in Minsk, on August 25, 2020. (Sergei GAPON / AFP)

“It won’t be used unless the situation starts to get out of control,” Putin says, unless “extremist elements … begin setting fire to cars, houses and banks, begin seizing administrative buildings.”

— AFP