PARIS, September 8. /TASS/. The calls of former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to put pressure on Minsk are surprising, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (upper house) Committee for Foreign Affairs Sergei Kislyak said during a session of the PACE Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy held on Tuesday in a video format.
"Ms. Tikhanovskaya set the tone for today’s discussion, calling to put pressure on her country," the senator said. According to him, "instead of working on the issues in their republic, they [Tikhanovskaya and her supporters] are mostly working on gathering support for putting pressure on their own country, on their own leadership." "I am astonished by it," Kislyak said.
The senator added that "the main and undisputed thing is that the absolute majority of Belarusians supported their president." "It is important to give the Belarusians themselves a chance to build their own future," he added. "Belarus itself must resolve all its problems."
Earlier on Tuesday, Tikhanovskaya called on PACE members to put international pressure on Belarus.
Belarus held its presidential election on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission’s data, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko received 80.1% of the vote, while Svetlana Tikhanovskaya garnered 10.12%. After the election, she left for Lithuania. Protests erupted in the country's capital of Minsk and several other cities following the presidential vote, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers. The opposition set up the Coordination Council for the transition of power in the country, calling on protesters to continue demonstrations. Member of the council Pavel Latushko stated that since August 9, over 10,000 people had been detained in Belarus.