PROTESTS CONTINUE IN BELARUS AS PUTIN VOWS MILITARY HELP

Belarusians chanting “Step down!” filled the centre of the capital Minsk on Sunday in the biggest protest so far against what they said was the fraudulent re-election a week ago of longtime president Alexander Lukashenko, Andrei Makhovsky and Andrew Osborn wrote for Reuters.

Russia said it would offer Lukashenko military help if necessary, but there was no visible police presence at the protest, which attracted around 200,000 people, a Reuters reporter estimated. At least two protesters have died and thousands have been detained in a crackdown since the vote. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had told Lukashenko Moscow was ready to assist Belarus in accordance with a collective military pact if necessary and that external pressure was being applied to the country.

The atmosphere at the rallies, which wrapped up late into the evening, was celebratory on the whole, with people carrying the red and white flags used in Belarus after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union before Lukashenko restored the Soviet version four years later. “We all want Lukashenko to step down,” said a 31-year-old worker who gave his name as Alexei. “For now we are asking, but we will get sick of asking.” Opponents of Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, say the vote was rigged to disguise the fact that he has lost public support. He denies losing, citing official results that gave him just over 80% of the vote.

Svatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s opposition rival in the contested election, fled to neighboring Lithuania on Tuesday. She had called for the “March of Freedom” through Minsk and in other towns and cities on Sunday in support of an election recount and is forming a national council to facilitate a power transfer. Maria Kolesnikova, an opposition politician who has allied with Tsikhanouskaya, referred to Lukashenko as “the former president”, said he should quit, and appealed to state officials to abandon him. “This is your final chance to overcome your fear,” she said. “We were all scared too. Join us and we will support you.”