Russia’s Foreign Minister on Thursday urged Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to honor the agreements with the Kremlin and proceed with constitutional reforms. This to avert a political crisis after months of protests.
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Lukashenko, called on by the opposition to resign following the August 9 presidential election, promised during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 14 that he would reform Belarus’s constitution. Protesters against his rule are convinced that the elections have been fraudulent.
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Lukashenko has always denied electoral fraud and on his visit to Moscow, he was promised a $ 1.5 billion (1.3 billion euro) loan. Russia’s political support is essential for him to stay in power. He later said Belarus could hold new elections once the constitutional reforms are approved.
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But political opponents have dismissed Lukashenko’s reform proposal as a delaying tactic. Reforms have also not yet been implemented. “As President Putin has repeatedly stressed, we are interested in seeing these initiatives,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Lukashenko on a visit to the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
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Lavrov did not publicly say what other initiatives Moscow would like to see. Russia has long sought closer cooperation with Belarus, but Minsk has resisted, fearing it will be swallowed up by its larger neighbor.
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“Of course we have an interest in the situation being calm and stable and we think that the beginning of the constitutional reform initiated by the country’s leaders will contribute to this,” said Lavrov.
Lavrov told Lukashenko that Moscow has no contact with the Belarusian opposition and accused the West, which has imposed sanctions on Minsk, of meddling in Belarus.
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