Talk:Belarus

Belarus elections
August 9, 2020.

Lukashenko's message to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly.

Opposition to Lukashenko is personified by 3 women, Tikhanovskaia, wife of another candidate Tsepkalo, and Kolesnikova, the headquarters chief of another candidate Babariko who was not registered.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya video appeal, after she left to Lithuania. (She is not in good spirits and speaks as if holding back tears). It ends with the statement that no life lost is justified in current circumstances, and that children are the most important in life. --Resup (talk) 09:39, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

...and Russia

 * Union State of Russia and Belarus, Wikipedia (in Russian)
 * Information portal of the Union State

PMC arrest
Night of 28/29 July, 2020. Moved here.

Opposition view(s)

 * Valerii Solovei, Echo Moskvy, Aug. 3, 2020
 * No idea where he is getting his info and is it accurate or bluff
 *  "On Friday, there was a very difficult conversation between the two presidents - Lukashenko and Putin. It was in a raised voice. And the Russian president insisted, I would say, in a very convincing, peremptory manner, that the top thirty be urgently returned to the Russian Federation. But Lukashenko said that he was ill, that, you understand, he had a hypertensive crisis, and that he would not discuss anything at all until Monday."
 * No info about such conversation officially. Putin had his security council meeting on this matter at about 14:00 on Friday. Peskov made some press statements. Nothing close to what Solovei says was published by media, or anywhere else I am ware of. I do not know whether it happened.
 * There seem to be little new on Monday, apart from Lukahsenko decree calling for next draft, to serve in the Army. Lukashenko is supposed to address the National Assembly, but it is not reported yet (apparently scheduled Aug. 4). There are reports of some Belarus troop movements towards borders, including Russia. This comes with a video from Novaya Gazeta, which is not on my trusted sources list (it is commercially pro-Western, like WaPo of Russia, sort of).
 * Solovei continues with some grander visions of possibly "Slavic Spring" and that he is in consultations with some unnamed folks, on something like calling for national backing of Khabarovsk protest; this continues with some speculations on how regime change in Russia might look like.
 * Solovei comes across as an intelligent person who somehow often makes public comments, picked up well by opposition press. Whether his opinions are accurate and what is really behind the scenes, if anything, I cannot really say. --Resup (talk) 21:58, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

On Aug 4 it is reported by a Russian journalist Pegov that some Belarus men with military experience in regions close to Russia are drafted (draft note-no name here) for 25 days starting Aug 10, the day after the elections.


 * Lev Yashin, August 10, 2020

...and USA

 * Please welcome the new Chargé d’Affaires Jeffrey Giauque - by.usembassy.gov, 27 July, video dated 28 July, 2020
 * New U.S. charge d'affaires arrives in Belarus - belarus.by, 27 July, 2020
 * On 20 July, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko ambassador to the United States of America. He plans to travel to the United States in August.
 * “A lot will depend on your work. We will discuss this in detail later. I will convey my instructions through the minister. We will need support and assistance from the United States of America, especially in the financial sector during this pandemic time,” the president told Oleg Kravchenko.

...and Lithuania

 * The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Lithuania of six (6) UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and related equipment for an estimated cost of $380 million - dsca.mil, July 6, 2020
 * US deployed nine combat helicopters to Lithuania, a battalion said to arrive later - topwar.ru, Rusvesna, 112.ua, August 3, 2020

Last updated --Resup (talk) 14:51, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

After elections
Categorically against post-election violence. Those who insight this are not doing it for Belarus people to be prosperous and happy. It is (sadly) correct that nobody in the West really cares about Belorussians or Russians well-being and is not going to spent money or effort to solve any of their problems for their (people's) benefit. This is mostly to weaken both Belarus' and Russia, ruin what's functioning now- for better or worth- and use it as home-grown oligarchs + transnational companies and bankers + military planners see fit. Elections may become fair alright, but then the rest would not be, and the country as known now will cease to exist, like the USSR of 1991, like Yugoslavia, like Ukraine in 2014. Zinoviev, living in France, knew all this before Yeltsin came to power, and nothing changed since. Yes, it may feel awful with elections, but this is just one aspect of life, there are many other things now taken for granted, which would no longer be for granted. Including education, science, culture, way of life, what's wrong and what's right, and what's money for and what is not for sale. Industries in Russia, Ballistics, Bulgaria, etc were devastated and scrapped. Tourism and agriculture is a poor substitute; but EU has no need for Soviet industries, even less so the USA. And --"You cannot be a happy person if you do not have your strong country standing behind you", as somebody said. --Resup (talk) 11:26, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Second day of protests. It is clearly all about elections, with nothing--intelligent or otherwise -- about what sort of change this is supposed to bring. Viktor Tsoy has a great song, I love it, but this a song, not a workable plan, and there has been a "morning after" when tried in Russia. Elections anger, perhaps is genuine, but also--a lot of motivation (narrowly tuned to protesting the election results, on the streets and via industrial strikes) is on foreign -based sites (Poland + Frankfurt in Germany hosting website+ RFE/RL and all the usual suspects). Also Telegram channels, with unknown origins. -- --Resup (talk) 20:38, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

On the second day, protests are no longer peaceful. Protesters pelted police with fireworks; some vehicle attacks on police (also one protester hit by police vehicle); there are videos suggesting Molotov cocktail use, although it is not clear what the target was. Protesters also violently confronted police trying to make arrests. (3000 arrests reported on day 1). --Resup (talk) 00:29, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

The main challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has left Belarus and is in Lithuania. In previous days, media published a story that Belarus security services prevented an attempt on her life and are guarding her headquarters. Tikhanovskaya filed elections complain at about the same time. By election day, essentially the only item in Tikanovskaya program is to quickly call new, deemed fare, elections. Tikhanonvskaya was not seen with protesters on the streets, those protesting were mostly young males, some pretty eager to confront the police, and implementing certain street tactics. --Resup (talk) 06:33, 11 August 2020 (UTC)