Belarus leader defends hosting worlds

Belarus President AlexanderLukashenkodefendedhis country’s ability to host this year’s hockeyworld championshipsonMondaybyridiculing the United States following the protests at the Capitol.

The authoritarian leader met with International Ice HockeyFederation president ReneFasel for talksamidcalls tomovetheworldchampionships following mass protests against Lukashenko’s rule.

He told Fasel that the protestswouldnotmakeitunsafe for Belarus to host the tournament, and compared his countrywiththeUnitedStates, wheresupportersofPresident Donald Trump rioted at the Capitol last week.

“In our country, protesters and other dissatisfied people don’t storm government agencies and capitols,” Lukashenko said. “Wehave a completely normal situation from the perspective of the development of democratic processes.”

Belarus is scheduled to co-host the world championships with Latvia in May and June, but the opposition in the country has called for a boycott and the Latvian government has said it wants Belarus to be replaced.

At hismeeting with Fasel, Lukashenko embraced his guest and also offered to host the entire tournament without Latvia and said it would be “the best world championship in history.”

Mass protests swept Belarus,aformerSovietnation of9.5millionpeople, afterofficial results fromthe presidential election on Aug. 9 gave Lukashenko a landslide victory over hiswidely popular opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.