San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
BELARUSIANS PROTEST REPRESSION IN HOMELAND
Lukashenko holds talks with Russian President Putin
Belarus’ exiled opposition leader vowed Saturday to persist fighting the country’s authoritarian regime despite intensifying repression that was thrown into high relief a week ago by the diversion of a commercial airliner and the arrest of a dissident journalist who was aboard.
“We are here today to express our determination to continue the struggle for freedom. We will not back down,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said at a rally of about 150 demonstrators in the capital of Lithuania. Along with Tsikhanouskaya, thousands of Belarusians have fled to Lithuania since authorities escalated a harsh crackdown on dissent last year.
Many other Belarusians have fled to Ukraine. About 100 of them rallied in Kyiv to denounce President Alexander Lukashenko, whose repression of opposition intensified after massive protests arose following an allegedly manipulated August election that gave him a sixth term in office.
“A North Korea is being built step by step” in Belarus, protester Syarhey Bulba said in the Ukrainian capital.
In the Belarusian capital, Minsk, several dozen people made a small show of defiance Saturday by marching down a main street carrying opposition banners.
The diversion of the Ryanair flight and the arrest of 26-year-old Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend last Sunday epitomized Lukashenko’s harsh rule. Belarusian authorities said the plane was ordered to land in Minsk, accompanied by a fighter jet, because of a bomb threat received while it was en route from Athens to Vilnius.
Western countries have denounced the move as a hijacking and demanded freedom for Pratasevich. a founder of a messaging app channel that was widely used to coordinate protests against Lukashenko. He faces a potential prison term of 15 years.
The European Union has banned flights from Belarus in response. The long-term impact of that move is not clear, but many fear that it could drive Belarus into closer relations with Russia, which has dismissed criticism of the plane’s diversion. Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and Saturday.
“From our point of view, the situation requires a thoughtful and constructive examination without hasty conclusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Saturday. “But this cascade of hasty conclusions, which were made by European capitals and in Brussels, rather suggests that this approach is not based on an attempt to really clarify the circumstances, but is based solely on emotions.”
Many observers warn that tougher EU sanctions would make Lukashenko easy prey for the Kremlin, which may use his isolation to push for closer integration.
Some in the West have even alleged Russia was involved in the flight diversion — something Moscow denies — and will seek to exploit the fallout.