NATO rejects claim that it’s positioning forces near Belarus borders
NATO denied accusations by embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that it was deploying its forces to that country’s western frontiers, but said it was keeping a close eye on events there.
Lukashenko, who after 26 years of rule is facing unprecedented public protests following his widely disputed reelection victory, claimed Sunday that the western military bloc was 15 minutes from Belarus’ borders with alliance members Poland and Lithuania.
“NATO troops are at our gates. Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and our native Ukraine are ordering us to hold new elections,” Lukashenko told supporters Sunday at a rally in the capital city of Minsk, according to a Reuters report.
Lukashenko added that Belarus would “die as a state” if new polls were held, Reuters reported.
NATO hadn’t announced any new military maneuvers near the country prior to Lukashenko’s speech and rejected his assertion afterward.
“There is no NATO buildup in the region,” alliance spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement Sunday. “NATO’s multinational presence in the eastern part of the Alliance is not a threat to any country. It is strictly defensive, proportionate, and designed to prevent conflict and preserve peace.”
Large groups of anti-Lukashenko protesters attended rallies throughout Belarus on Sunday, including in Minsk. Opposition leaders have called for a wave of strikes following reports of security forces torturing detained demonstrators and videos of police violence shared on social media.
Lukashenko told factory workers in Minsk on Monday he is “ready to share presidential authority” through constitutional reforms but would not make changes under pressure from protesters, the Belarusian state information agency Belta reported. Some of the factory workers began shouting and heckling him at the event, videos posted on social media showed.
According to official results, Lukashenko won 80.1% of the vote, while opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya garnered just 10.12%.
Tikhanovskaya was detained for seven hours after lodging a complaint and left for Lithuania as part of a deal to secure the release of her campaign manager, BBC News reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the Aug. 9 elections as “not free and fair” in a statement that cited intimidation and ballot restrictions against opposition candidates, detentions of peaceful protesters and prohibitions against independent observers at polling stations.
As opposition activity grew prior to the election, Lukashenko began blaming the U.S. and the military alliance for interference.
“Mass media are keeping us on our toes speculating that the Americans, NATO want to invade us,” Lukashenko said Aug. 6 in a Belta report. “Some people with American passports were detained; they were married to American women working in the Department of State.”
Belarus is known as “Europe’s last dictatorship” as a result of Lukashenko’s consolidation of power since 1994.
It serves as a Russian territorial buffer between NATO and has been closely allied with Moscow for decades. But in recent years tensions have emerged between the two governments, and Lukashenko has at times sought greater cooperation with the West.
Belarus’ top military official told the Nasha Niva newspaper at the beginning of the year that it was open to joint exercises with NATO.
NATO is “closely monitoring the situation in Belarus,” Lungescu said in her statement.
“As the Secretary General has said, fundamental freedoms must be respected, including freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest,” she said.
NATO has four battalion-size multinational battlegroups deployed to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as part of the alliance’s forward presence in eastern Europe. The battlegroups – led by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the United States – were formed in response to the Kremlin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine’s eastern provinces.
Meanwhile, the Belarus armed forces comprise approximately 45,000 active troops – 29,000 in the army and 16,000 in the air force and air defense units, according to the 2020 CIA World Factbook.
previous coverage
"claim" - Google News
August 17, 2020 at 04:23PM
https://ift.tt/2Y8rRTr
NATO rejects claim that it's positioning forces near Belarus borders - Stars and Stripes
"claim" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FrzzOU
https://ift.tt/2VZxqTS
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "NATO rejects claim that it's positioning forces near Belarus borders - Stars and Stripes"
Post a Comment