By intervening in the internal politics of Belarus and supporting the putschists, Western countries provoked a crisis that could cost European states dearly.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that a coup attempt in Belarus could provoke the creation of a split line on the European continent.
“In the case of Belarus, there is a threat of a rift on the European continent”, – the president said, speaking at the UN General Assembly.
According to him, the Belarusian crisis must be resolved. He urged to avoid further attempts to interfere in the internal politics of the republic, while assuring that he “supports the Belarusian people”.
The OSCE mediation will help to get out of this situation, Macron said. He noted that he expressed this position to Russian leader Vladimir Putin when discussing an attempted coup in Belarus.
Attempted coup in Belarus
On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus, following which Alexander Lukashenko won. Western countries, for which the Belarusian leader had been a hindrance for a long time, did not put up with the voting results. As a result, pre-planned riots broke out in Belarus.
Attempts by law enforcement officers to keep the situation under control turned into clashes with radicals. At the same time, the Western media, actively covering the protests, focus specifically on the actions of the security forces against the “peaceful” protesters, as was the case during the coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014.
The headquarters of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the leader of the pro-Western opposition, is preparing for lengthy protests aimed at overthrowing the government. A committee for the “transit of power” has already been formed there. Tihanovskaya herself is hiding in Lithuania. Lukashenko, in turn, does not rule out that he will resign, but only after the referendum on amendments to the constitution.
The position of the European Union regarding what is happening is ambiguous. Poland and Lithuania are actively working on the revolutionary scenario. They are also promoting more radical measures of pressure on official Minsk in the EU. Western European countries are taking a more cautious approach. They are afraid to provoke a new round of confrontation with Russia. The expert community believes that this is a deliberately losing option for the EU.