Sanctions imminent after secret inaugural
WASHINGTON/ BR USSELS • The United States, Britain and Canada may impose sanctions on Belarus as early as Friday, four sources told Reuters, and the European Union told President Alexander Lukashenko it did not recognize him as the country’s legitimate leader.
Diplomatic pressure on Lukashenko mounted a day after he had himself sworn in for a sixth term at an inauguration ceremony that was kept secret until after it was completed.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that following the “fraudulent” inauguration, British, U. S. and Canadian officials were working on sanctions against those responsible for “serious human rights violations.”
The four sources said the measures could come on Friday, though that might slip given the challenge of coordinating between the three countries.
More than 12,000 people have been arrested, and hundreds remain in jail, since Lukashenko was declared the landslide winner of an Aug. 9 presidential election that the opposition denounced as rigged.
Mass protests have left him reliant on his security forces, and backing from his ally Russia, to maintain his 26-year grip on power in the former Soviet republic.
Canada’s Foreign Minister François-philippe Champagne said: “The inauguration is as illegitimate as the elections it follows.”
The EU said the abrupt swearing- in on Wednesday went directly against the will of the people.
“The so- called ‘ inauguration’ ... and the new mandate claimed by Aleksander Lukashenko lack any democratic legitimacy,” the EU’S 27 states said in a statement. “This ‘ inauguration’ directly contradicts the will of large parts of the Belarusian population, as expressed in numerous, unprecedented and peaceful protests since the elections, and serves to only further deepen the political crisis in Belarus.”
The EU, a large financial donor to Belarus, also said it was “reviewing its relations” with the country, meaning the bloc would seek to cut off direct funding to Lukashenko’s government, channelling it to aid groups and hospitals instead.
Lukashenko brushed off the condemnation.
“We didn’t ask anyone to recognize our elections or not recognize them, to recognize the legitimacy of the newly elected president or not,” the news site Sputnik Belarus quoted him as saying.
The ceremony took place without prior warning in an apparent attempt to prevent it being disrupted by protests. Instead, it drew thousands onto the streets of the capital Minsk on Wednesday evening, where security forces chased down protesters and fired water cannon to disperse crowds.
Police detained 364 people, the Interior Ministry said.