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Crisis in Belarus

Opposition figurehead calls on private businesses to go on strike

According to ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, employees of state-owned enterprises went on strike on Monday morning following her call

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

© AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

VILNIUS, October 26. /TASS/. People employed in private businesses, IT workers and members of religious communities need to go on strike in support of the Belarusian opposition, former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya wrote on Telegram on Monday.

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According to her, employees of state-owned enterprises went on strike on Monday morning following her call.

"I believe that private businesses, religious communities, cultural figures, athletes and IT workers will support the strikers and stop their work for one day," Tikhanovskaya wrote. She added that in her view, the strike at state enterprises was a tool of economic pressure, while the strike in private companies marked solidarity between people.

Tikhanovskaya’s ultimatum for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expired on October 25. The country’s opposition has called for strikes at industrial facilities starting on Monday. Telegram channels supporting the opposition wrote on Monday that many of the country’s major state enterprises had gone on strike. However, the Belarusian prime minister’s spokesperson Alexandra Isayeva said that all enterprises continued to operate normally.

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Alexander Pankin noted that during his visit to New York he did not have any talks with UN officials on the Russian-UN memorandum

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China vows decisive response to US move to deploy intermediate missiles in Asia-Pacific

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Putin stays in daily contact with Sergey Shoigu, Kremlin spokesman says

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Belarusian KGB reports thwarting attempted drone strikes on Minsk from Lithuania

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Ukraine’s draft dodger makes attempt to cross Dniester into Moldova on air mattress

Men of conscription age try to leave the country in every possible way, often putting their lives at risk

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