Belarus praises Russia for support amid protests

Belarus' top diplomat on Wednesday thanked Russia for supporting the Minsk government after the European Union last month slammed elections in Belarus as neither free nor fair.

"I would like to express my gratitude to Russia for the sustained, competent and clear reaction to the events that have been unfolding in Belarus," Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said, according to state news agency BelTA.

Speaking in Moscow at talks with his Russian counterpart, Makei called Russia's response a "counterweight that restrains external forces from actively interfering with the internal affairs of Belarus."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the EU's statements about the "legitimate government of Belarus" as "rather destructive." 

At a meeting on August 19, EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the results of polls in Belarus on August 9 that saw the reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko. Merkel said that the EU had "no doubt that there were massive violations of procedure at the elections," where Lukashenko was said by the Belarusian election commission to have received 80% of the vote to win a sixth term.

Read more: Belarus: DW correspondent held at police station for hours

Accusations against Ukraine

Following Wednesday's meeting in Moscow, Lavrov went on to accuse Ukraine of stirring up unrest in neighboring Belarus, saying 200 trained Ukrainian extremists were there trying to destabilize the country. The allegations were immediately rejected by Ukraine.

Lavrov also said that a visit to Belarus on Thursday by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin would pave the way for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko within the next two weeks.

The Russian foreign minsiter said the meetings would promote "mutually beneficial relations" between the two former Soviet countries. Ties between the two nations, once strong, had cooled recently partly owing to differences concerning the powers accorded to each in a bilateral cooperation treaty.

Read more: Propaganda in Belarus: Why state media journalists quit

Ongoing protests

Mishustin's visit will take place against a backdrop of anti-Lukashenko protests that have taken place every day since the disputed presidential elections.

On Wednesday, eight students from the Minsk State Linguistics University were reportedly arrested after taking part in a human chain in Minsk. The human chain was aimed to protest earlier detentions of students and professors. 

During the first few days of protests, police arrested nearly 7,000 people, with hundreds being beaten and mistreated. The government has since stepped back from such overt violence in the face of international outrage and turned to more selective detention of protesters and legal action against them. Lukashenko has accused protesters of being "Western puppets."

Russia's Putin has said he is ready to send security forces to Belarus if asked to do so by Lukashenko.

tj/jlw (dpa, AP)