Politicians comment on Lukashenko’s address to National Assembly :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarusian politicians predicted that pro-democracy forces may come under even stronger pressure from the authorities after Aleksandr Lukashenko vowed to take “harsh and adequate” steps against what he called any attempts to destabilize the situation in the country.

While addressing the National Assembly on Tuesday, the Belarusian leader stressed that the government is “flatly opposed to a scenario of a democratic change of political elites unwanted by the West.” “Color revolutions in fact are no revolutions but open brigandage under the disguise of democracy,” he said.

“In general, there’s nothing new in the president’s address. He has repeatedly said that he does not want the Ukrainian or Georgian events to recur in Belarus. The president’s statement contains a direct threat to the pro-democracy movement. Political parties, independent media outlets and civil society are likely to come under stronger pressure,” Aleksei Korol, a leader of the country’s social democratic movement, told BelaPAN.

Human rights advocate Andrei Sannikov, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs, noted that the Belarusian leader has been seriously concerned about the wave of popular uprisings in ex-Soviet states. “A day never passes without him speaking about this. He even acknowledged that the revolutions are democratic and this in fact means that democratic changes in Belarus are inevitable. But by regarding this as brigandage, Mr. Lukashenko in fact brands Messrs. Yushchenko and Saakashvili, whom he will likely have to deal with, bandits. He should be probably more moderate in his remarks,” the activist said.