Onrust in Belarus na gemanipuleerde verkiezingen, extreme repressie #6

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Op maandag 14 september 2020 15:35 schreef Ronald het volgende:

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Ik vraag me af wat het doel is van dat krediet, orde troepen betalen of Russische huurlingen? (de zogenaamde 'mannen in het groen')

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Een onbekende heeft een "explosief geplaatst" in een van de deelgemeentehuizen van Minsk

De polite ontving maandag een anoniem bericht over het plaatsen van een explosief in een van de deelgemeentehuizen van Minsk, meldde de persdienst van de politie.

"De hoofdstedelijke politie ontving een e-mail bericht inzake een gevaar. In de brief was aangegeven dat in een van de deelgemeentehuizen van de hoofstad een explosief was gelegd", aldus de politie.

"Bij de aangewezen plaatsen zijn wethandhavers geaariveerd voor het plegen van onderzoek. Alle noodzakelijke maatregelen voor het veiligstellen van de burgers worden genomen", voegde de politie toe.

De identiteit van de auteur van het bericht wordt nu onderzocht.

De politie vroeg ook begrip te hebben voor mogelijke ongemakken, die verband houden met de veiligheidsmaatregelen.

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Het lid van de nationale coordinatie raad Konstantin Titov is aangehouden

Er is nog een lid van de nationale coordinatie raad voor het reguleren van de politieke crisis in Belarus aangehouden, het gaat om de jurist Konstantin Titov. Dat meldde de pers-dienst van Viktor Babriko met een verwijzing naar de advocaat van Titov.

Konstantin Titov is lid van de algemene kring van de nationale coordinatie raad.

De nationale coordinatie raad werd gevormd naar het initatief van voormalig Belarussisch presidentskandidate Svetlana Tichanovskaja, die zich in Litouwen bevind. De eerste zitting vond plaats op 19 augustus. De daaropvolgende dag melde de Hoofdaanklager dat er een strafzaak was ingesteld op grond van artikel 361 van het Wetboek van Strafrecht (het oproepen tot handelingen die gericht zijn op het aanbrengen van schade inzake de nationale veiligheid).

Enkele leden van de nationale coordinatie raad zitten nu in het gevang en enkele andere waren genoodzaakt Belarus te verlaten uit angst voor hun leven en vrijheid. Op dit moment is enkel een van de zeven leden van het presidium van de raad op vrije voeten en in Belarus, het gaat hier om nobelprijs winnaar Svetlana Aleksievich. Er werden door vertegenwoordigers van wethandhavende structuren ook pogingen ondernomen om contact met haar te krijgen, maar nadat bij Aleksievich thuis journalisten en europese diplomaten kwamen, zijn die pogingen opgehouden.

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De ME heeft leden van de "bos troep", die straatsoorlogvaardigheden aan het trainen waren, aangehouden

Vlakbij Mogilev is er een einde gemaakt aan het "wederrechtelijk handelen" van een troep met leden die zogezegd straatsoorlogvaardigheden aan het trainen waren, meldt de persdienst van de politie.

"De hoofdienst voor de strijd met georganiseerde misdaad en corruptie heeft een einde gemaakt aan het wederrechtelijk handelen van de 'bos' troep", -klinkt het in de mededeling. - "De leider van de genoemde groep creerde op sociale media de gemeenschap "Partizanen van Mogilev", waar 64 gebruikers deel aan namen. Er is voorlopig vastgesteld, dat leden van de groep zich verzamelden in een verlaten ruimte in het bos vlakbij Mogilev. Daar trainde ze: praktische vaardigheden voor het voeren van straatoorlogen, het bezetten van ruimtes, het bestormen van gebouwen uit de hoogte en het voeren van oorlogshandelingen in het bos".

Volgens informatie van de persdienst van de poltie, beschikten ze in de groep over "een wit-rood-witte vlag, een regimentsuniform met als onderscheidingsteken de "Pagonja" en Oekrainse symboliek, bivakmuttsen, kogelvrije vesten, pneumatische- en strikeball wapens, een lichtpistool, messen en een radiozender".

"Enkele van haar leden vervaardigden zelfgemaakte ontstekings mechanismes en voerden daar expirimenten mee uit. Videoberichten van de jongens, waaronder ook minderjarigen waren, werden op het internet geplaatst", - merkt het bericht op. - "Medewerkers van de 11e dienst van de hoofdienst voor de strijd met georganiseerde misdaad en corruptie van het Oblast Mogilev hebben samen met bewapende ondersteuning van de ME zes actieve leden van de groep aangehouden. Bij de plaats delict zijn voorwerpen ingenomen, die volgens expertise fragmenten van een zelfgemaakt ontstekingsmechanisme vormen. Ook voor de overige ingenomen voorwerpen wordt een expertise uitgevoerd".

Er is een strafzaak tegen vier actieve lden van de groep ingesteld. Het betreft jongen mensen in de leeftijd van 16 tot 22 jaar oud. Ze zijn aangehouden en in de politiecel geplaatst.

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Op maandag 14 september 2020 18:52 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Ik sluit me bij onderstaande tweets aan. Loekasjenko kan weer een aantal maanden mee, waarmee er dus door Poetin vooral invloed en tijd gekocht wordt.

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[ twitter ]

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Op maandag 14 september 2020 20:22 schreef Ronald het volgende:

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Dus als hij o.a. de Siloviki niet meer kan betalen in ruil voor hun loyaliteit is het snel gedaan.

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Een zielige marionet van het Kremlin is Loekasjenko inmiddels.

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Jammer voor de Belarussen dat ze dit figuur ooit in het zadel hebben geholpen. Wie weet had men dezelfde vrijheid kunnen hebben als in de Baltische Staten.

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Maar ja nu is het te laat, Poetin is te machtig voor de Wit Russen.

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Belarus leader visits Putin to secure support amid protests

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV September 14, 2020 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian president visited Russia on Monday in a bid to secure more loans and political support, as demonstrations against the extension of his 26-year rule entered their sixth week.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi came a day after an estimated 150,000 people flooded the streets of the Belarusian capital, demanding Lukashenko’s resignation. The Interior Ministry said 774 people were arrested in Minsk and other cities of Belarus for holding unsanctioned rallies on Sunday.

Putin said Russia would provide a $1.5 billion loan to Belarus and fulfill all its obligations under a union treaty between the two neighbors. Speaking at the start of the talks, he emphasized that the Belarusians themselves must settle their political situation without any foreign meddling, and commended Lukashenko for his pledge to conduct a constitutional reform.

Protesters in Belarus have dismissed Lukashenko’s reelection for a sixth term in the Aug. 9 presidential vote as rigged. The United States and the European Union have both criticized the election as neither free nor fair and urged the Belarusian leader to engage in talks with the opposition, a demand he has rejected.

The opposition has dismissed Lukashenko’s talk about constitutional reform as an attempt to buy time and assuage the protesters’ anger. Putin hailed it as a “timely and reasonable” move that would help “reach a new level in the development of the political system.”

In a bid to win Moscow’s support, Lukashenko, a 66-year-old former state farm director, has tried to cast the protests as an effort by the West to isolate Russia, which sees Belarus as a key bulwark against NATO and a major conduit for energy exports to Europe.

As he sat across the table from Putin, Lukashenko pointed at NATO’s drills near Belarus’ borders and said the two countries must strengthen their defense ties.

Putin emphasized that Russian paratroopers who were sent to Belarus for joint drills will leave the country after the exercise. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters after the four-hour talks that the leaders did not discuss the possibility of basing Russian forces in Belarus.

Peskov also reiterated that Russia regards Lukashenko as Belarus’ legitimate president.

Russia and Belarus have a union treaty envisaging close political, economic and military ties, but they have often engaged in acrimonious disputes. Before the election, Lukashenko repeatedly accused the Kremlin of pressing Belarus to abandon its independence.

But with the U.S. and the EU criticizing the election and readying a package of sanctions against Belarus, Lukashenko now has to rely squarely on Russia’s support.

Despite frictions in the past, the Kremlin abhors the prospect of public protests forcing the resignation of the Belarusian leader, fearing it could embolden Putin’s critics at home.

Putin congratulated Lukashenko on his re-election and promised to send Russian police to Belarus if protests there turn violent, noting that there is no need for that yet.

“We see Belarus as our closest ally and we will undoubtedly fulfill all our obligations,” the Russian leader told Lukashenko during Monday’s talks.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opposition challenger to Lukashenko, left for Lithuania a day after the August vote under pressure from Belarus authorities. She warned Putin that any agreements he may reach with Lukashenko will not stand with a new opposition-led government.

“I’m very sorry that you have opted to have a dialogue with the usurper and not the Belarusian people,” she said Monday. “Any agreements signed with Lukashenko, who lacks legitimacy, will be retracted by the new government.”

Commenting on the new Russian loan to Belarus, she added: “I hope Putin realizes that it will be Lukashenko, and not our people, who will have to repay that loan.”

“Dear Russians, your taxes will be used to pay for the beating of us,” she added. “We are sure you wouldn’t like to see that happen. It may extend the agony of Lukashenko, but it will not prevent the people’s victory.”

Pavel Latushko, a former culture minister and ambassador to France who was forced to leave Belarus after joining the opposition’s Coordination Council, warned that while the Kremlin is standing by Lukashenko now it may move later to engineer his departure.

“Lukashenko discredits himself each day, and when he completely loses his authority it would be easier for Moscow to replace him,” Latushko told The Associated Press. “The Kremlin already has made a decision and is moving to fulfill a careful plan to have Lukashenko removed.”

Alexander Klaskousky, an independent Minsk-based analyst, believed that for the Kremlin, a push for deeper integration between the two countries makes no sense now because of Lukashenko’s precarious position.

Klaskousky predicted that the Kremlin might prod Lukashenko to de-escalate the crackdown on protests and engage in political maneuvering to ease tensions, while looking behind the scenes for a candidate to replace him.

“Massive protests aren’t abating, and the barbed wire, water cannons and hundreds of detainees underline Lukashenko’s pitiful condition, forcing the Kremlin to start looking for an alternative,” Klaskousky said. “Putin would hardly want to put all eggs in one basket.”

The U.N. Human Rights Council, meanwhile, agreed to hold an “urgent debate” on Belarus on Friday, given the mass detentions and police beatings of protesters. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet emphasized Monday that all allegations of torture by the Belarus security forces should be documented and investigated.

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Op maandag 14 september 2020 23:30 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Op deze manier, waarbij mensen van de straat geplukt worden en bedrijven doorzocht worden werkt Loekasjenko er hard aan om het glas helemaal leeg te maken. Wie gaat er nu in zo'n onzeker land investeren?

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En ��n van de succesvolle post-Sovjet republieken? Tja. Aan de ene kant zien we de Baltische staten en Polen die aanzienlijk succesvoller zijn dan Wit-Rusland (door EU-steun en de Europese markt).

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En aan de andere kant heb je landen die er ongeveer hetzelfde of slechter aan toe zijn, zoals Rusland en Oekra�ne.

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Russia withdraws reserve forces deployed at Belarusian border

The move follows the agreement reached by presidents of Russia and Belarus on Monday, August 14

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Russian National Guard forces began withdrawing from their temporary deployment areas at the Russian-Belarusian border and return to their permanent bases, a Rossiya-24 TV channel reported Tuesday.

"Russia is withdrawing the reserve forces, deployed at the Belarusian border. The forces abandon their temporary deployment locations and return to their permanent bases," the TV channel reported.

Previously, presidents of Russia and Belarus agreed to withdraw the armed forces reserve, deployed at the border.

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Russia’s new loan cannot be interpreted as interference in affairs of Belarus — Kremlin

Part of the new loan that Russia is to provide to Belarus will be intended to refinance the country’s old debts, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters

SOCHI, September 14. /TASS/. Russia’s new loan worth $1.5 billion to Belarus cannot be interpreted as Moscow's interference in the affairs of Minsk, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday following the talks between the presidents of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.

"This should not be in any way interpreted as interference in the internal affairs of [Belarus], we are totally against it," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Peskov was asked to comment on the words of the ex-presidential candidate of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya that this money is allegedly given as a loan to Lukashenko and the Belarusian people will not pay it back. One of the reporters also recalled the loan Russia had provided to Ukraine shortly before the coup d'etat in that country. In response, Peskov said that Tikhanovskaya's words are "a fundamentally wrong presentation of the issue."

"The loan, like previously provided loans, is not issued to President Lukashenko, it is given to Belarus, our great ally, our brotherly country," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.

"Russia has supported and will continue to support the Belarusian economy in this regard, it cannot be otherwise," he concluded.

Peskov also noted that part of the new loan is intended to refinance the country’s old debts. "The President [Putin] said this. It has been agreed to allocate a new loan worth $1.5 billion to Belarus. Part of this loan will be used to refinance the funds that were borrowed earlier and [the other] part is new funds," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Earlier on Monday, President Vladimir Putin announced after the talks with Lukashenko, that Russia will provide a $1.5 bln loan to Belarus.

He noted that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin had previously held successful negotiations in Minsk on all areas of interaction between the two countries, in particular on financial cooperation.

In late August, Lukashenko announced that Belarus would hold talks with Russia on refinancing the republic's state debt in the amount of $1 billion. Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov later said that the terms and amounts of the loan were being discussed at the level of financial departments.

Belarus’ Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov previously noted that in total this year the country must pay about $3.6 billion in foreign currency national debt and $2 billion of that amount had already been paid. According to the republic’s Finance Ministry, as of July 2020, Belarus’ foreign debt amounted to $18 billion.

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September 14, 2020

Yara concerned over Belarus situation

Yara respects international human rights, freedom of expression and the right to participate in free elections. We endorse the UN's guiding principles on business and human rights, and we recognize and respect workers' rights, including the right to organize and the right to strike.

We have a clear expectation that our business partners follow our ethical guidelines (as outlined in our Business Partner Code of Conduct) and that they comply with laws and regulations, as well as internationally recognized standards for human rights, employee rights and ethical business conduct.

Yara buys potash sourced from JSC Belaruskali through the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) in Belarus, one of nine countries from which Yara sources potash. Yara monitors developments in Belarus closely and continuously assesses potential impacts on its business, the situation for BPC and Belaruskali employees, Yara’s business partner relations, and the general conditions in Belarus.

We have a frequent dialogue with BPC and Belaruskali, where we have expressed concern and inquired about the health and well-being of their workers, clearly stating our expectation that workers are treated well and in accordance with the Yara Business Partner Code of Conduct.

As we monitor and evaluate the situation, it is key for Yara to consider how we can have the most positive impact. Yara has a close cooperation with trade unions in Norway, and also engages with multiple other stakeholders, including Belaruskali, BPC, The Norwegian government, owners, activists and trade unions in Belarus. A number of concerns have been communicated to Yara from these stakeholders, and Yara raises all of these directly in its on-going dialogue with BPC and Belaruskali.

Our evaluation today is that we can have the most positive impact by continuing a close dialogue with BPC and Belaruskali. We have support for this approach from our stakeholders, and intend to continue this dialogue provided that our concerns are addressed. We will continue to monitor the situation, maintaining a dialogue with multiple stakeholders and continually assessing the impact of our approach.

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The regime in Belarus is trying to steal our victory. It won’t succeed.

Opinion by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
September 14, 2020 at 1:16 PM EDT

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is the leader of the opposition in Belarus, currently exiled in Lithuania.

Belarusians are coming together in an unprecedented mass movement for democracy. The harder that dictator Alexander Lukashenko tries to maintain his power, the more it is ebbing away.

As the candidate of the opposition movement, I won the majority of the votes in the Aug. 9 presidential election — based on detailed analysis of the election results by several independent groups, which managed to scrutinize voting records in a large number of precincts despite massive government fraud. Since then he has deployed security forces against peaceful demonstrators and tried to blanket the country — assisted by Russian-supplied journalists — with lies and propaganda.

Yet the people continue to assert their right to self-government. They are not only marching in astonishing numbers but also striking in factories, sharing information, and working to help and support each other in countless ways. We insist on peaceful protest, and we refuse to engage in violence.

Many people ask if that will be enough. I believe the answer is yes. We as a nation have passed the point of no return. Lukashenko has no future as a leader of this country, and it is only a question of time until he leaves power.

But, for now, we must continue with our efforts. And we know, from experience, exactly what we have to do.

First, we will continue with our mass demonstrations. Weekly Sunday marches of hundreds of thousands have become the norm. State propaganda claims that they are shrinking — but everyone in Belarus can see with their own eyes that the marches are getting bigger every week. They will continue.

Thousands of workers in state-owned factories — the backbone of state financial income and propaganda about the stability of the regime — are already on strike. We will support them. Support networks and online funding campaigns are providing financial assistance to the workers to help them overcome the shock of leaving work.

With time, the strikes are spreading from factories and state-owned firms to the civil service itself. Academics, teachers and some public servants are already on strike. Students are marching and protesting, too.

Second, we will continue our boycott of the state apparatus. Many private businesses have stopped dealing with state-owned banks; more will do the same. Whenever possible, businesspeople should delay or refuse to pay and refuse to buy products from state-owned factories.

Third, we will continue with our current information policy. We have made wide use of social networks, especially those that can’t be blocked or accessed by the state. Access to information is the strongest weapon we have. Sharing and disseminating the truth are civic duties at a time when government-run TV uses contractors from abroad to spread lies.

We will continue to enforce a complete blockade of state-owned media — no subscriptions, no circulation, no dissemination. We encourage all Belarusians to consider themselves journalists; everyone should film, record and publish. We urge everyone to support journalists and bloggers with funding, resources and information. We collaborate to identify fake news, planted stories and propaganda.

Fourth, we will persist in exerting pressure on the institutions of the state. We advise minimal collaboration, and so far we have had great success in doing so. Pro-government trade unions and state-run youth organizations have been losing members at a rapid rate. We will continue to ignore pro-government rallies and to persuade others to resist pressure to participate.

ifth, we are committed to justice and human rights. Since the current, pro-Lukashenko judiciary refuses to abide by the rule of law, we need to preserve evidence for the future. We record and film crimes and abuse by the police and other members of the armed forces. We share that evidence with human rights organizations and the mass media. We encourage international organizations to help us in investigating these crimes. We congratulate last week’s decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to initiate a special investigative body devoted to the crimes and human rights abuses in Belarus.

Sixth, we must continue to seek support from the international community. We ask our supporters abroad to lobby their politicians and to share information about Belarus with friends, neighbors and relatives.

We ask other governments to stop collaborating with the regime and impose sanctions on individuals who forged the results of the election and committed crimes against their own citizens. We warn that all the agreements made with the current illegal regime in Belarus are made by other countries at their own risk, and we cannot guarantee that the future legally and freely elected government will uphold such agreements. We also encourage other countries to do everything they can to help Belarusians who were forced to escape the country in the last crackdown.

Contrary to what state propaganda claims, time is on our side. This regime is a giant with feet of clay. What appeared to be destined for eternity will be gone in a blink of an eye. All we have to do is stick together. There is no question of whether we will win. We have won already. The regime is attempting to steal that victory from us. It will not succeed.

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 15:59 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Een andere speler? De enige waar ik dan aan kan denken is Poetin. De oppositieraad wil democratische verkiezingen en vreedzaam te werk gaan.

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Flauw antwoord. Polen lag in de communistische invloedssfeer en was ook lid van het Warschaupact.

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Niet alles was slecht onder Loekasjenko. Maar veel wel.

Economisch kon het land niet meekomen

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en de bevolking werd qua vrijheden onderdrukt.

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Daarbij gebeurde het al langer dat oppositieleden verdwenen en dood teruggevonden werden...

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En dat gewapende conflict zou zelfs nog kunnen komen...

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 16:02 schreef hjansen82 het volgende:
Loekasjenko laat zich niet kapen door de covid-19 hype en de EU agenda. En daarom moet hij nu het onderspit delven.

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 16:09 schreef Digi2 het volgende:

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Hij delft het onderspit niet zolang hij het leger en de politie met koopkracht kan blijven voorzien zoals het een dictator betaamt.

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De EU heeft verse goedkope arbeiders nodig vanwege de vergrijzing op langere termijn en heeft dus baat bij het aan de macht blijven van deze dictator. Straks lopen de brains en hands vanzelf het land uit hierheen vanwege uitzichtloosheid. En dat zonder grote subsidiestromen zoals die naar oost-europese EU-lidstaten.

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 16:20 schreef Digi2 het volgende:

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Voorlopig heeft hij weer de nodige roebels van Putin kunnen lenen

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en gifmenger Putin heeft niets op met democratie of het welzijn van de bevolking dus dit gaat nog lang duren.

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 16:22 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Hoezo was het communisme in Polen minder ver doorgevoerd?

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Alsof het een detail is...

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Zonder dat er direct bewijs voor is. Dat is een mooie.

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Jij denkt dat deze vier kritische lieden gewoon zomaar verdwenen zijn en nu in Sotsji hun billen drukken op het strand?

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 17:01 schreef luxerobots het volgende:
Het is toch wel vrij duidelijk dat het regime van Loekasjenko erachter zit.

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Belarusian opposition ready for dialogue with authorities given election recount

Member of the presidium of the Belarusian Coordination Council Pavel Latushko asserted that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "would never go for it"

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Member of the presidium of the Belarusian Coordination Council Pavel Latushko thinks the dialogue of opposition with the current government of the country is possible on the condition that the votes in the presidential election are recounted and the acts of violence against the protesters are investigated.

"If a new Central Election Commission is elected which will again analyze all the results of the electoral campaign, will conduct an independent vote count, will evaluate the violations of the acting legislation, if the authorities initiate [criminal cases], investigate and hold responsible the individuals guilty of mass acts of violence; if the authorities cease detaining people simply for their right to attend rallies, release all political prisoners, then I, Pavel Latushko, would potentially see this opportunity for a dialogue," he said on Tuesday during the Vremya Pokazhet (Time Will Tell) TV show on Channel One.

However, he asserted that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "would never go for it."

He also claimed that "nobody has real facts confirming that there are organized acts of violence on the part of peaceful protesters, neither the government, nor the media outlets."

Earlier the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denied the possibility of a dialogue with the opposition representatives, stating that he will only conduct it with groups of workers.

Nationwide demonstrations have engulfed Belarus following the August 9 presidential election. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome, and left Belarus for Lithuania. After the results of the exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. During the early post-election period, the rallies snowballed into fierce clashes between the protesters and police. The current unrest is being cheered on by the opposition’s Coordination Council, which has been beating the drum for more protests. In response, the Belarusian authorities have castigated the ongoing turmoil and demanded that these unauthorized demonstrations be stopped.

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Op dinsdag 15 september 2020 18:47 schreef luxerobots het volgende:
Overigens zijn er door de jaren heen meer tegenstanders van Loekasjenko verdwenen en vermoord (zie je ook in dat item).

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EU doesn’t recognize Lukashenko as president of Belarus, says top diplomat

Josep Borrell says any sanctions ‘should be adopted before the European Council if we want to keep European credibility.’

By Jacopo Barigazzi 9/15/20, 7:26 PM CET Updated 9/15/20, 7:28 PM CET

The EU does not recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the president of Belarus, the bloc's top diplomat said Tuesday.

"We are using all the tools that we have at our disposal to contribute to the end of the violent repression that has been developing in Belarus after the elections, which we do not consider to have legitimately elected Lukashenko," Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told MEPs.

Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, claimed victory after the contested August 9 presidential election, triggering mass protests that have been met with brutality, arrests and violence.

After the election, the EU said the result was "neither free nor fair" and urged the Belarus leadership to open dialogue with the opposition with the mediation of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It also called for an end to the violence and opted for what it described as a "gradual" approach on Minsk.

EU leaders decided at a meeting last month to impose sanctions on "a substantial number" of people responsible for violence, repression and the falsification of the election result, and said that the EU does not recognize the electoral result. But they stopped short of explicitly calling for new elections and hitting Lukashenko with sanctions, as requested by Lithuania and Estonia.

At the end of last month, Borrell called for a re-run of the election under the OSCE’s supervision and, speaking in front of the European Parliament on Tuesday, he added that sanctions "should be adopted before the European Council if we want to keep European credibility," referring to a meeting of EU leaders next week.

So far the list of Belarus officials facing sanctions has reached more than 30 names, according to two diplomats, and includes the interior minister. EU ambassadors are expected to discuss Belarus sanctions on Wednesday, but diplomats were cautious about saying that Borrell's words mean that Lukashenko could be put back on the EU sanctions list (he was under EU sanctions until 2016, when Belarus released a number of political prisoners).

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Francisco-Backed Sandvine Cancels Belarus Deal, Citing Abuses
Ryan Gallagher 1 hr ago

(Bloomberg) -- Sandvine Inc., the technology company backed by private equity firm Francisco Partners, canceled a deal with Belarus, saying the government used its technology to violate human rights.

The company’s technology, which is used to filter and manage internet networks, was used by a state-run internet agency in Belarus to block thousands of websites in the country amid nationwide protests over a disputed election, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 28.

Sandvine said in a statement on Tuesday that a preliminary investigation determined that “custom code” was inserted into its products “to thwart the free flow of information during the Belarus election.”

“This is a human rights violation and it has triggered the automatic termination of our end user license agreement,” according to the statement. “Sandvine takes human rights abuses very seriously. We also abhor the use of technology to suppress the free flow of information resulting in human rights violations.”

Sandvine, which is owned by San Francisco-based private equity firm Francisco Partners Management LLC, demonstrated its equipment to a government security team in Belarus in May, and shipped its equipment to the country through a primary contractor, Russia-based Jet Infosystems, according to company documents and two people with knowledge of the matter.

The equipment was installed in Minsk, within data centers operated by Belarus’s state-controlled National Traffic Exchange Center, which manages all internet data flowing in and out of Belarus, according to the documents and people.

For several days in August, amid protests over the disputed re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, the National Traffic Exchange Center used Sandvine’s equipment to block people from accessing social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram and international news websites, Bloomberg reported last month.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin called on the Treasury Department to investigate Sandvine for potential violations of U.S. sanctions on Belarus, saying it would be “deeply troubling if American technology is being used by the last dictator of Europe to block Belarusians from the internet just as thousands peacefully protest a stolen election and brutal political arrests.”

Some Sandvine employees protested the company’s work in Belarus. But in an internal phone conference last week, executives defended the work, saying they hadn’t violated U.S. sanctions and that they didn’t view access to the internet as a human right.

“We don’t want to play world police,” said chief technology officer Alexander Hav�ng.

On Tuesday, however, the company said it had determined that Belarus had violated a license agreement that “explicitly prohibits actions that supports or enables the commission of individual human rights violations.”

“Sandvine did not violate any U.S. or other applicable export control laws or sanctions,” the company said. “From a technology standpoint, we are exploring ways to enhance our products to reduce the risk of misuse.”

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Werknemers van "Grodno Azot" melden een noodstop van de ammoniak productiehal

Medewerkers van een van de grootste chemische bedrijven in Belarus "Grodno Azot" hebben een noodstop van de procuctiehal "Ammoniak-3" gemeld. Een defect van de apparatuur is daarvan de oorzaak.

Volgens de woorden van enkele medewerkers van het bedrijf, is de procuctiehal "Ammoniak-3" stil komen te liggen door defecte machines. Door een kettingreactie begonnen enkele andere productiehallen, waaronder "Ureum-3", stil te vallen.

Specialisten proberen het werk te hervatten. De leiding heeft een vergadering belegd.

Als de ammoniak-productiehal het werk niet hervat binnen 1 tot 2 dagen, dan kan zij definitief voor lange tijd stilvallen.

Volgens medewerkers van het bedrijf is dat geen bedreiging in de vorm van een ecologische catastrofe of de uitstoot van gevaarlijke stoffen. De specialisten zijn voorbereid voor dergelijke noodsituaties en weten wat te doen in het geval van dergelijke gevallen.

De gevolgen van het stilstaan van de productiehal hebben in de eerste plaats een economisch karakter, wat een uiting heeft op de toekomstige productie.

Echter is een dergelijke situatie niet alledaags. Dergelijke defecten zijn de afgelopen 10 jaar niet voorgekomen

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In heel Belarus zetten de aanhoudingen van tegenstanders van Lukashenko zich voort

Aanhoudingen van activisten zetten zich voort op 15 september, meldt de mensenrechten site spring96.org [Viasna].

In Gomel is 15 september de activist Oleg Levenets aangehouden. Hij slaagde er in een bericht over zijn aanhouding op Facebook te plaatsen. Volgens informatie van mensenrechtactivisten, zocht de politie Levenets sinds 11 september op verdenking van deelname aan een niet gesanctioneerde massa-actie.

De journaliste Irina Kuptsevich uit Bobrujsk werd op 15 september uitgenodigd voor "een gesprek" op het politieburau en aldaar aangehouden op verdenking van deelname aan een niet gescanctioneerde massa-actie.

Op het symbolische "plein van de verandering" in Minsk - een binnenplaats, waar mensen continue het hek versieren met wit-rood-witte linten en op het transformator huisje een afbeelding schilderen van de 2 diskjockey's, die op 6 augustus een liedje van Tsoj inzette op een officiele bijeenkomst op het Kiev-plein -
is de plaatselijke bewoner Stepan Latypov aangehouden. Hij bewaakte het transformatorhuisje tegen wethandhavers, die voor de zoveelste keer kwamen om de schildering uit te wissen. Latypov eiste, dat de onbekende mensen in burger kleding met maskers zich voorstelden. Later werd er een huiszoeking doorgevoerd in zijn appartement. Volgens de informatie van zijn advocaat werd Stepan Latypov aangehouden binnen de kaders van een strafzaak. De verdere details zijn onbekend.

In Grodno heeft de ME voor de zoveelste keer muzikant en maatschappelijk activist Igor Bantser aangehouden, die een performance uitvoert voor het gerechtsgebouw van het Oblast, waar de zitting van zijn zaak geplanned was.

In Mogilev werd de plaatselijke activist Ilja Koltsov aangehouden en ook het lid van "de maatschappij van de Belarussische taal" Natalja Shimenkova.

In het dorp Lomshina, dat zich in het rayon Minsk bevind, werd Petr Vitkovskij aangehouden in het kader van een strafzake inzake het hinderen van politiemedewerkers in hun werkzaamheden. Het was een aggresieve aanhouding: zes politiemedewerkers stormden het huis van Vitkovskij binnen, een deel van hun was voorzien van een schild.

In Polotsk werd de plaatselijke activist Anatolij Prokopenko aangehouden.

De aanhoudingen in Belarus vinden plaats op de achtergrond van veelvuldige eisen van de internationale gemeenschap om te staken met de repressies tegen vertegenwoordigers van de burgermaatschappij en de oppositie.

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16 September 2020, 12:36

Belarusian ambassador talks about twisted interview with Dutch TV channel

MINSK, 16 September (BelTA) – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Netherlands Andrei Yeudachenka made a few comments about his interview with a local TV channel, BelTA has learned.

The ambassador said: “The interview was recorded in our embassy and lasted for about three hours. My direct speech lasted for roughly one hour and 20 minutes. We had an agreement that a complete 20-minute-long interview would be aired in the evening without any insertions, breaks, or interpretations. I was deeply disappointed by what was aired as a result. I was actually used as a screen for their own program. I appeared on the screen only three times and for roughly 30 seconds in total. The most revolting thing is that many statements were mixed, cut, or twisted. My answers were matched with different questions.”

The ambassador sent a letter to the TV channel. “I pointed out the reporter's bias and lack of responsibility. I said before the interview that the situation in Belarus is rather complicated and tolerates no simplified analysis or some stereotypical statements. Unfortunately, they did everything contrary to the agreement. Although the local mass media call themselves free, independent, and objective, they lack objectiveness in many cases,” he stressed.

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Op woensdag 16 september 2020 14:48 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

[..]

Tja, vrijdag vlak na de uitzending vond je nog dat de NOS zich had laten gebruiken voor Loekasjenko-propaganda.

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En nu vindt je dat de NOS te kritisch geweest is en de ambassadeur niet de ruimte voor zijn verhaal gegeven heeft...

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Op woensdag 16 september 2020 15:05 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

[..]

Dat weten we dus helemaal niet.

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Doorgaans doet de NOS dat niet.

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Wel willen ze nog wel eens interviews verknippen tot ultra korte quotes. Heeft waarschijnlijk meer met het medium televisie en de aandachtsspanne van de kijker te maken.