MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2020) Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former presidential candidate for the Belarusian opposition, who fled to Lithuania after the August election, held a meeting with foreign diplomats on Monday and discussed possible restrictions on oil products exports from Belarus, the press service of the politician said.
"Svetlana Tikhanovskaya met today with the ambassadors of Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Ireland and a representative of the Nordic Council to discuss the events of the past weekend [dispersal of opposition rallies in Belarus]. Svetlana said that the situation requires decisive action ... [The sides] discussed the restrictions on the purchase of oil products from Belarus and other products of state-owned enterprises," the press service said.
According to the statement, Tikhanovskaya also called on foreign diplomats working in Belarus to take more active actions during protests, since their "presence protects people from unjustified violence of the regime."
Earlier in the day, Tikhanovskaya said that she was seeking to disconnect Belarus from the international SWIFT system and stop lending state-owned Belarusbank and Belagroprombank by foreign banks.
More than 1,000 people were detained during Sunday's unauthorized anti-government protests held across Belarus, according to unregistered Viasna human rights center.
Belarus has been facing massive opposition protests following the presidential election on August 9 that saw President Alexander Lukashenko reelected for a sixth term. While electoral authorities maintain that Lukashenko collected over 80 percent of the vote, the opposition insists that his key antagonist, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won the election. Opposition figures also accuse the security forces of resorting to excessive violence during the protests, which have continued unabated, with the largest held regularly over the weekends.
