German Chancellor Angela Merkel applauds Belarus women protesters for their bravery

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised women protesters in Belarus for staging peaceful demonstrations amid ongoing social unrest in the nation. Merkel also said that she had plans to meet Belarus’s main opposition candidate.

While addressing German lawmakers on Wednesday, September 30, Merkel said that Germany does not recognise the recent Belarusian presidential election and therefore cannot accept Lukashenko as the nation's president. She also called the women protesting on the streets of Belarus "extremely brave", adding that said she admired their resolve and found it really ‘impressive’.

Read: Belarusian Opposition Leader To Address French Parliament Amid Unrest

Germany follows France's line

The German government is yet to reveal the details of Merkel's upcoming meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya who fled Belarus for Lithuania shortly after the results of the elections were declared that hailed Lukashenko's victory with supposed 80% votes.

Merkel’s announcement comes after French President Emmanuel Macron met with Tsikhanouskaya in Lithuania. According to reports, after meeting the Belarus opposition leader Macron said, “We had a very good discussion. Now we need to be pragmatic and to support Belarus people and we will do all that”.

Read: Belarus: Nobel Laureate Svetlana Alexievich Leaves For Germany Amid Protests

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and Canada have imposed sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. In addition, they have also placed sanctions on Lukashenko’s son and other senior government officials. The UK has also refused to accept the results of the August 9 election as legitimate and does not consider Lukashenko to be the legitimate leader of Belarus.

As per reports, the UK has imposed a travel ban as well as frozen the assets of eight officials from the Belarusian government, including Lukashenko's son Viktor Aleksandrovich Lukashenko and Igor Sergeenko, the head of the presidential administration. Canada has also applied similar sanctions.

Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, when asked about possible sanctions against Belarus stated that Germany was ‘firmly resolved’ to impose sanctions against Belarus and regrets that the European Union has been unable to reach an agreement.

(With AP inputs)

Read: Emmanuel Macron Meets Belarusian Opposition Leader, Offers To Mediate Crisis

Read: UK And Canada Announce Sanctions On Belarus Leader Over 'rigged' Election