To underscore the point, Washington should hold off sending a new ambassador to Minsk. Or Russian President Vladimir Putin might get involved. In an attempt to quell the anger, the government pledged to release detained protesters. On her way to file a formal complaint, Ms. Tikhanovskaya was picked up by the police and, after three hours, made an obviously coerced statement ceding the election and asking people not to protest. The West should not wait for one of these options to play out. For a quarter of a century now, Aleksandr Lukashenko has been offering a master class in dictatorship in Belarus, the country he runs with an iron hand. It is separate from the newsroom. all of its measures in 2016 in the naïve hope that Lukashenko and the West could somehow return to friendly relations. This content is currently not available in your region. Belarus election: Who is dictator Alexander Lukashenko? With generous support from Russia, largely in the form of gas and oil at privileged prices, to make sure that he did not turn westward, Mr. Lukashenko managed to retain a measure of popular support by avoiding the chaotic, large-scale privatizations that afflicted Russia and most other former Soviet republics and keeping key industries — and their jobs and patronage — in government hands. and U.S. should also call for the immediate release of all those detained. We rely on readers like you to uphold a free press. Should demonstrations grow and pressure for Lukashenko’s departure increase, Putin might be tempted to offer military assistance, as he did to prop up Bashar Assad in Syria in 2015, or even worse, invade Belarus, as he did in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. The scenes coming out of Belarus after Sunday’s election are both appalling and inspiring. Her rallies drew massive crowds, and on Election Day, long lines formed at polling stations. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. But fed up with Lukashenko, Belarusians have not given up fighting for democracy. [Read more on what’s happening in Belarus: protests, police and government.]. The son of a milkmaid and chairman of a Soviet state farm when the Soviet Union collapsed, Mr. Lukashenko was catapulted to power in Belarus’s first democratic presidential election. The presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya casts her ballot in Minsk on Aug. 9. Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the autocratic president of Belarus since 1994, is no longer brutally suppressing demonstrations that have gone on for weeks, but he shows no signs of going away. Belarus is in crisis and requires not just words but actions from the highest levels of the State Department. Spontaneous strikes broke out in several state-owned factories. Her entire platform, appealing in its passion and simplicity, consisted of pledges to release all political prisoners and hold free and fair elections. Sergei Gapon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Both the U.S. and E.U. It seems that those living under Aleksandr Lukashenko’s rule won’t abide him forever. See our, Read a limited number of articles each month, You consent to the use of cookies and tracking by us and third parties to provide you with personalized ads, Unlimited access to washingtonpost.com on any device, Unlimited access to all Washington Post apps, No on-site advertising or third-party ad tracking. Belarus' dictator is getting desperate. The truth is that Mr. Lukashenko has never really changed his stripes, and there is no chance he will if he survives the current challenge. Inspiring because tens of thousands of Belarusians are returning to the streets night after night and going on strike at their workplaces to say enough is enough — they want a change in leadership after 26 years of the authoritarian, corrupt and incompetent Lukashenko. His silly and incompetent response to the coronavirus pandemic, which included urging his subjects to ride tractors, take saunas and drink vodka, alienated many people as the disease spread and the economy shrank. We must continue to focus our attention on the events unfolding in Belarus, and make sure demonstrators fighting for freedom know which side of the barricade we stand on. Lukashenko has run Belarus, an ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million, with an iron fist for 26 years. This would meet stiff resistance from Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom Mr. Lukashenko, whatever his warts, is a bulwark against Western encroachment. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. For more than two decades, Belarus has been written off as the last dictatorship in Europe. When they need us most, we — Democrats and Republicans at home together, democracies around the world united — must not give up on them. Belarus’s leader grasps for every trick in the dictator’s handbook Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk … Or Lukashenka could instead institute draconian martial law, arrest even more people beyond the estimated 6,700 already detained, and provoke more bloodshed. Soon afterward she fled to neighboring Lithuania. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. imposed sanctions on Belarus after rigged elections and subsequent violence in 2006 and 2010. Belarus is not Ukraine, where powerful regional differences, competing political factions and powerful oligarchs kept the government from amassing the centralized, militarized power Mr. Lukashenko wields. By clicking “I agree” below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. Even if Lukashenko refuses to participate, others in his regime need to understand that such a process now is the only way to avoid an even more violent, revolutionary change — perhaps exacerbated by Russian military intervention. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com. Mr. Lukashenko stuck to his familiar script and claimed an utterly improbable landslide victory, ceding less than a tenth of the votes to Ms. Tikhanovskaya — “Our society has not matured enough to vote for a woman,” he said. The man dubbed Europe's "last dictator" has the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told Lukashenko that Russia was ready to assist Belarus in accordance with a … Pompeo and his European counterparts should volunteer to mediate a transitional pact between the Lukashenko regime and opposition leaders. “Belarus will never again want to live under its previous rulers,” Ms. Tikhanovskaya said in a video message from her refuge in Lithuania, calling on the government to start talking about a transfer of power. Pompeo even traveled to Belarus this year, becoming the most senior U.S. official to meet with Lukashenko in decades. The violence only bred more resistance. Officials in the United States and Europe should recognize that “normal” relations with Minsk are impossible as long as Lukashenko — a master at pitting Russia and the West against each other — is in power. The West’s sympathies and unquestionable support must be with people of Belarus who have had enough of Mr. Lukashenko’s willful, cruel and illegitimate rule. A successful democratic movement in a country with so much shared culture and history is a threat to Putin’s authoritarian system. The U.S. and E.U. He then made sure it was the last free and fair one — reshaping the old Soviet K.G.B. The last lesson on dictatorship should be that people will not abide tyranny forever, and that when they finally can bear no more, free people elsewhere will come to their side. But after the blatantly rigged election of Aug. 9, the next lesson should be in how dictatorships are brought to an end. His usual tactics — jailing or disqualifying any serious challengers — backfired when Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former English teacher and the wife of a popular pro-democracy blogger arrested after he declared his candidacy, took her husband’s place. Yet well before the latest election, Mr. Lukashenko’s sixth, things were not looking good. The Belarusian dictator has made a point of defying Mr. Putin of late — he did not support Russia’s clandestine war in eastern Ukraine; in April 2019 he expelled the Russian ambassador, accusing him of treating Belarus like a vassal state; and last month he arrested 33 men he said were Russian mercenaries there to stir up trouble in advance of the election. Trump can back democracy — or doom millions. Biden Accuses Trump of Silence on 'Dictator' in Belarus By Reuters , Wire Service Content Sept. 25, 2020 By Reuters , Wire Service Content Sept. 25, 2020, at 8:45 p.m. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Utility may cut power to 1M Californians to reduce fire threat, How a 21-year-old CEO landed $3.5 million for software that he originally built to help his mom's struggling dog grooming business keep repeat customers, Detainees complain of mistreatment as Belarus releases thousands held after protests. But the U.S. lifted most of its sanctions and the E.U. Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian Nobel literature laureate, accused Mr. Lukashenko of declaring war on his own people and demanded that he step down. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. Putin and Lukashenko have managed a tense, volatile relationship for decades, and Putin might seek to exploit Lukashenko’s vulnerable position now. BELARUS is in turmoil following a sham election which has reinstalled the dictator Alexander Lukashenko for a sixth term. In the absence of credible monitors or exit polls, it is impossible to know how many votes Ms. Tikhanovskaya actually got, but it is nearly certain she won. There is plenty of precedent here. Dr. Tom Inglesby shares his concern over the rising number of Covid-19 cases, says. The European Union and the United States have issued strong statements condemning the police violence and election fraud, and there is talk of imposing sanctions on responsible officials.
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