The Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has threatened the West with countermeasures in the event of new sanctions against the former Soviet republic. “We don’t blackmail anyone, we don’t threaten anyone,” said Lukashenko. Then he added, “They put us in such a situation that we have to react. And we react.”
The background of the appearance is the first anniversary of the controversial presidential election on August 9, 2020 and the start of mass protests. Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than a quarter of a century, alluded to the illegal border crossings from Belarus into the EU. The EU accuses him of deliberately allowing people to cross the border into the EU country of Lithuania. Lithuania registered more than 2000 illegal border crossings from the neighboring country in July alone. Meanwhile, the wave of refugees is shifting more and more to Latvia.
“No reason to pick up the ax”
Regarding the EU’s threat of new sanctions, the authoritarian ruling head of state said: “You should just think about it before you take any action against us.” There is no reason to use “xts and pitchforks”: “That can have the opposite effect.” The EU has imposed sanctions on several occasions because of the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition. It no longer recognizes the 66-year-old Lukashenko as president.
But that doesn’t bother Lukashenko. He denied involvement in the death of activist Vitaly Schischow in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. “Who was he for Belarus or for me? He meant nothing to us.” Schischow, who lives in exile in Ukraine, was found hanging in a park in Kiev at the beginning of August after he had not returned from jogging.
