The same situation that gave us Brexit, the Yellow Vests, and the MAGAs.

“The harsh truth on Belarus? Alexander Lukashenko is a thug but he probably won. Minsk is pissed because Minsk is probably the only part of the country that voted against the strongman. It’s a liberal cosmopolitan city in a rural working class agrarian country. It is also a country which considers itself to be very much a part of Russia (Belarus being Russian for White Russia) and they will never side with countries who helped massacre there villages in the Second World War against the country that a generation died defending. Did Lukashenko cheat? Probably, but no more than Boris, Trump, or Macron. That’s representative democracy baby, if you don’t like it, either launch a revolution not bankrolled by NATO or start hitchhiking. Switzerland is that way.” – Nicky Reid

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin told European Council President Charles Michel that any pressure on the Belarusian leadership or external interference in the country’s domestic affairs was counterproductive in a phone call on Thursday, the Kremlin said.

The two sides agreed that an early normalisation of the situation in Belarus suited the interests of both Russia and the European Union, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Belarusian authorities launched a criminal case against a new opposition body earlier on Thursday, accusing it of an illegal attempt to seize power, a day after leader Alexander Lukashenko threatened to sweep the streets of protesters who reject his re-election.

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