Donald Trump administration is closely watching 'terrible situation' in Belarus

While unrest continues to prevail in Belarus over rerunning of the presidential vote, United States President Donald Trump has acknowledged the “terrible situation” in the European nation. According to international media reports, the United States believes that the Belarusian president who secured his sixth term in the office, Alexander Lukashenko ‘can no longer ignore’ the calls of democracy by thousands of demonstrators. 

A senior official of Trump administration told Reuters on the condition of anonymity on Monday, August 17 that Russia should avoid its interference in Belarus saying that Moscow should also respect the sovereignty and the right of people in the Eastern European country to elect their own leaders. Triggering clashes of law enforcement officers and protesters in Minsk and other cities was the landslide re-election victory of Lukashenko as the opposition believes that the voting was rigged. 

After denying the possibility of a rerun of votes for several days, Belurasian president on Monday, August 17 said that he is ready to share his leadership. He also noted that his change of the decision was not based on the pressure from the protesters because according to Lukashenko, they are acting on the foreign powers. The US official also reportedly said that Belarusian leader’s comments reflect the realisation of government acknowledging the public’s demands. However, the official added that sharing power still does not address the lack of fair elections. 

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Pompeo in discussion with EU over Belarus

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had recently said that America was in touch with the European Union (EU) over the situation prevailing in Belarus over the disputed election and crackdown of demonstrations. While speaking in Warsaw, Pompeo had reportedly said that Washington was closely following the unrest with an aim of America’s contact with the EU was to ‘try to help as best we can the Belarusian people achieve sovereignty and freedom’. 

Lukashenko on August 10 had secured yet another term as the country's president after the authorities announced the preliminary results in which the 65-year-old former Soviet Army member allegedly secured over 80 per cent of the total votes polled. Opposition leaders, including the main challenger Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya denounced the outcome and called it a rigged election before fleeing the nation with her family to take exile in Lithuania.

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Image: AP