France never recognizes the legitimacy of the last presidential elections in Belarus, as a result of which Alexander Lukashenko won. This was stated by the head of the French Foreign Ministry Jean-Yves Le Drian, he quotes Reuters.
“From the presidential election in Belarus in August 2020, we observed arrest, arrests, prohibiting various associations, intimidating the opposition and landing of its representatives, serious repression,” the diplomat reminded.
In this regard, he promised that Paris did not recognize Lukashenko’s rule and would resume sanctions against Belarus until her president “would not start respecting democracy and choose other people.”
This statement sounded against the background of an international scandal, which followed the detention in Minsk founder of the Telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich. This happened on May 23, after an emergency landing of the Ryanair aircraft. The liner, following the route Athens – Vilnius, was forced to land in Belarus due to the message of dispatchers about the explosive device laid on board. To accompany the aircraft, a fighter MiG-29 of the Belarusian Air Force was raised.
After landing, information about the bomb on board was not confirmed. The Belarusian side stated that information on mining came on behalf of the Palestinian movement Hamas. The movement denied such statements. The countries of the European Union found the actions of Minsk in the act of state terrorism and provocation in order to arrest the opposition.
In Belarus, from August last year, mass protests continue with the demanding of the resignation of the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko and holding new presidential elections. The first rallies accelerated hard. A number of opposition politicians and activists were arrested or fled from the country. Lukashenko has repeatedly stated that there are external forces on occurrences.