MINSK, September 11. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the Coordination Council recently established in the country seeks to bring the entire opposition movement in the country under its control.
"The Coordination Council has only one goal - to harness the entire protest and opposition movement, to be above them all. Therefore, there is struggle for power. There is an attempt to seize power," Lukashenko said at a meeting with the staff of the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office on Thursday.
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 government demands that all unlawful protests be stopped.
On August 14, Tikhanovskaya initiated the creation of the Coordination Council, which declared the transition of power in the country as its main goal. Later, the Council established a seven-member presidium.
On August 19, the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s office launched a criminal case into public calls for toppling the government and actions that harm national security, committed with the help of the media or the internet. The offense is punished by up to five years in prison. The Investigative Committee of Belarus said on Wednesday it has evidence to prove that certain members of the Coordination Council were engaged in activities aimed at destabilizing the situation in the country.