On Saturday, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid protests against his controversial re-election, state agency Belta reported.
The two presidents discussed the situation within Belarus and abroad, the agency said shortly after Lukashenko asked to discuss the “threat” looming, in his words, against his country and “our entire region” with Putin.
An attack is being waged against Belarus, he said.
“We need to contact Putin, the Russian President, so that I can talk with him now,” Lukashenko had said earlier on Saturday at a meeting with state officials. “This is not a threat only against Belarus,” he added, claiming that it threatened the entire region and, in particular, the intergovernmental union between Russia and Belarus.
According to Lukashenko, Belarus is facing a “coloured revolution” - the name given to various popular uprisings in the former USSR over the past twenty years – with “external interference elements.”
Since last Sunday, tens of thousands of activists have been contesting Lukashenko’s re-election, denouncing massive fraud and violent repression by the State.
The country’s government has received support from Moscow, which has denounced attempts at “foreign interference” aimed at destabilising Belarus, a historical ally of Russia, despite recurrent tensions between the two governments in recent years.
Lukashenko had accused Russia of wanting to reduce Belarus to a vassal state and interfering in the 9 August election on behalf of his adversaries.
The Brussels Times
