MINSK, August 20. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has stated that the events in Afghanistan have revealed the true essence of Western democracy and urged Belarusians to use it as a learning experience, the BelTA news agency reported on Friday.
"They showed their true face. This could have happened to us, had they pulled off that blitzkrieg last year (after the August 9 presidential election - TASS). And then in a couple of years the people would have pushed them out, and some would have been clinging to a plane’s landing gear in order to fly away from here. So it is necessary to learn a lesson from this and instruct our population and our people," he said during a state award ceremony for the members of law enforcement.
According to him, in Afghanistan "the essence of the Western democracy was demonstrated." "Well, it doesn’t matter that [people climbed into] that hatch that holds the landing gear on the runway <...>. A body part is left, something got ripped off, legs are dangling. This is not important, this is different, this is the so-called democracy," he said.
Nationwide demonstrations engulfed Belarus following the August 9 presidential election. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the outcome of the election, and left Belarus for Lithuania. After the results of the exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. The republic’s authorities repeatedly stated that the protesters were being instructed from abroad.