MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has said that Alexander Lukashenko's legitimacy as a Belarusian leader was under question after a controversial election.
Earlier in the week, Nauseda urged the Belarusian authorities to form using force against the protesters, release all detainees and form a national council for a dialogue with the society.
"We can not call mister Lukashenko legitimate because there were no free democratic elections in Belarus," the Lithuanian president told Sky news on Thursday.
Baltic countries and Poland have offered to act as a mediator between the Belarusian authorities and opposition.
"If it will fail, then we will probably start to look for other alternatives, and sanctions that could be imposed on Belarus are also possible," Nauseda added.
The president also said that his country cannot have normal relations with Belarus until Minsk holds free and fair elections. Nauseda also called on the international community to play a more active role in resolving ongoing issues in Belarus.
When asked about Russia's role in the crisis resolution, Nauseda said that Kremlin was interested in having Belarus as a satellite state, adding that Belarus "would be probably fully integrated into Russia" if the world stayed passive.
According to the president, Lithuania in particular, and the European Union in general, are interested in a stable, democratic and independent Belarus.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that any attempts to find a "Russian trace" in the organization of unrest in Belarus are groundless, while any efforts to deteriorate Moscow-Minsk relations will fail.
According to the Belarusian Central Election Commission, Lukashenko secured his sixth term with over 80 percent of the ballots in the August 9 vote. The opposition, which consolidated around presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has challenged the election results, accusing the authorities of massive falsifications during the voting. The opposition candidate left Belarus for Lithuania on Tuesday after being pressured to do so by the Belarusian authorities, according to her campaign office.
