Live Updates: Belarusian Foreign Minister Reports Anonymous Pressure on Family Amid Protests

Belarusian opposition politician and former presidential hopeful Valery Tsepkalo on Thursday met with the Speaker of Poland’s Senate, Tomasz Grodzki, in a continuation of his tour of his country's Eastern European neighbours.

According to a post on Tsepkalo’s Telegram channel, the two discussed Warsaw’s rejection of Minsk’s official election results and Polish aid to Belarusian civil society groups.

The visit came hours after Tsepkalo met with now-former Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

"A meeting with the Speaker of the Polish Senate Tomasz Grodzki took place. The following three issues were discussed: non-recognition of election results in Belarus, the resignation of Lukashenko, recognition of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as the legally elected president, financial assistance to the victims and civil society", Tsepkalo’s Telegram channel said in a post that was followed by a series of official photographs.

"The European Union should support the scores of people in Belarus who have been peacefully protesting to demand that their rights and freedoms be respected. A dialogue is needed between the government, the opposition and the civil society. This dialogue has to be established and led by the Belorussians themselves. The EU can facilitate this dialogue, if necessary, with engagement of other institutions, particularly the OSCE as well as Russia", French President Emmanuel Macron said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called for non-interference in Belarus' domestic affairs in a phone conversation with the chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, on Thursday.

"They have discussed the situation in Belarus in the context of the OSCE Albanian Chairmanship's proposals to facilitate dialogue between the authorities and the opposition. Minister [Lavrov] emphasized the necessity to let the people of Belarus sort out their domestic affairs on their own, to not interfere in the dialogue between the authorities and the society and to not enforce anything from the outside, in order to avoid the bitter experience of the so-called European mediation in Ukraine in February 2014," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The sides also "reaffirmed the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s vital role in efforts to resolve the intra-Ukrainian conflict, including the need to prepare objective reports on what is happening on both sides of the contact line in Donbas."

The United States urges the Belarusian government to work with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE ) in order to facilitate dialogue will all stakeholders in the country, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Thursday.

"We urge the government of Belarus to accept the OSCE chairmanship’s offer to facilitate dialogue and engage all stakeholders. We support international efforts to independently look into Belarus' electoral irregularities, the human rights abuses surrounding the election and the crackdown that has followed", Pompeo said.

The United States also urges the Belarusian government to release all detained activists, Pompeo said.

"We call for the immediate release of those unjustly detained and accounting for those reported missing", Pompeo added.

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei discussed the situation in the country with United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale and thanked Washington for support of Belarus' sovereignty, the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"The sides discussed the situation in Belarus after the election and exchanged opinions on prospects of cooperation. The minister thanked the US for unwavering support of sovereignty and independence of Belarus," the press service said.

The coordination council of the Belarusian opposition has invited the country's law enforcement to meet to discuss opposition's demands, the council said Thursday in a press release.

"On August 20, official requests asking for an urgent meeting to discuss demands of most citizens of Belarus were sent to the office of the prosecutor general, the Investigative Committee, the Interior Ministry, the State Security Committee," the council said on Telegram.

Belarus is boosting its defenses in the northwestern region of Grodno bordering Poland and Lithuania, the spokesman for the country's border protection service told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The number of border patrols was increased. There is increased control on people and vehicle arriving at border zone," Anton Bychkovsky said.

Earlier this week, President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the border service to boost its preparedness to prevent arrival of "militants, arms, munitions, money to finance unrest" in the country.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his Belarusian counterpart, Roman Golovchenko, held a second phone conversation in two days, they discussed the coronavirus response and cooperation on trade and the economy, the Russian cabinet said on Thursday.

"On August 20, a phone conversation was held between Russian government chairman Mishustin and Belarusian Prime Minister Golovchenko. Mishustin and Golovchenko continued their dialogue about the prospects of boosting the Russian-Belarusian cooperation on trade and the economy. They focused on cooperation on energy and manufacturing industries, including automotive engineering and agricultural machinery industry," the Russian cabinet said in a statement.

According to the statement, the prime minister also touched upon COVID-19 response cooperation, including the expansion of contacts of the relevant agencies of Russia and Belarus.

European Council President Charles Michel reiterated in his phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the crisis, which unfolded in Belarus after the presidential election, can only be solved through an inclusive dialogue.

"Yesterday #EU27 expressed solidarity with the people of #Belarus in their desire to determine their own future. Today I reiterated this to President Putin. There is only one way forward: through political inclusive dialogue & a peaceful and democratic process," Michel wrote on Twitter.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said Thursday he had ordered defense drills in the northwestern Grodno region after seeing signs of foreign interference in Belarus' internal affairs.

"We can see that there is interference in the internal affairs of our country. We are receiving information from various sources that is troubling. We are making forecasts for different scenarios," the minister said in a statement published on Telegram.

Based on this, the decision was made to hold drills in the Grodno region, Khrenin said. President Alexander Lukashenko has been informed about this plan.

The Kremlin believes that Russia's dialogue with the Belarusian opposition would be interference in the neighboring country's domestic affairs, and that only internal discussion is needed, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"We will abstain from any comments on the matter. I will tell you once again that it is up to the Belarusian authorities to point to the domestic problems in dialogue with representatives of the protesting forces. We would not anyhow interfere in this protest, especially now, in the hottest phase," Peskov told reporters.

Commenting on some EU leaders' non-recognizance of the Belarusian presidential election, and calls for a new vote, Peskov stressed again that Russia "would not interfere."

"You know that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin has already congratulated [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko on winning the election," Peskov said, adding that the leaders had held four telephone conversations over the past few days.

The Kremlin  spokesman also qualified the position of the European Union as "a legal stalemate."

"We keep consistently explaining our stand that external interference in the events in Belarus in unacceptable," Peskov said.

The presidium of the Belarusian opposition's Coordination Council told Sputnik on Thursday that the body poses no threat to the country's security, despite the opening of a criminal case against it.

"We certainly do not agree. What kind of security threat? This is not true. The council is in fact a mediation service. It has been created to resolve the conflict between the people and the authorities, not for some kind of instigation," Sergey Dylevsky, a member of the presidium, said.

When asked if he is afraid of any problems with the Belarusian law enforcement agencies, Dylevsky admitted he was concerned.

Earlier in the day, Belarusian Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk said that a criminal probe was opened against the recently created Coordination Council, since its activities are allegedly aimed at seizing power and jeopardizing the national security.

Belarus' Prosecutor General's Office has opened a criminal case over the creation of the opposition's Coordination Council for transfer of power, Prosecutor General Alexander Konyuk said on Thursday.

"The creation of the Coordination Council and its activities are aimed at seizing power and doing damage to the national security of the Republic of Belarus. Therefore, a criminal case was opened under Article 361 of the Criminal Code," Konyuk said, as quoted by Sputnik Belarus.

Convicts under this article can face up to five years of imprisonment.

Belarusian opposition politician and former presidential hopeful Valery Tsepkalo said on Thursday that he will be meeting with the Speaker of Poland’s Senate, Tomasz Grodzki, in a continuation of his tour of his country's Eastern European neighbors.

Earlier in the day, Tsepkalo posted photos of a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz on his Telegram channel. The former tech entrepreneur said the two discussed the Warsaw-proposed assistance plan and the creation of a Polish-US foundation to support the Belarusian civil society.

Tsepkalo left Belarus for Moscow with his two sons before the August 9 presidential election in the country. The opposition figure was declared wanted due to a criminal case in mid-August, purportedly related to bribery.

Since his departure from Minsk, Tsepkalo has been on a tour to meet leaders in all of Belarus’ neighboring countries. Tsepkalo, who headed the Belarussian mission to Washington from 1997-2002, said earlier this week that he was mulling a move to Poland or Lithuania with his family.

Belarusian opposition politician and ex-contender for presidency Valery Tsepkalo said on Thursday he held a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz to discuss the Warsaw-proposed assistance plan.

"My first day in Warsaw was quite busy. I paid a visit to the Polish Foreign Ministry. The head of the Polish diplomacy, Jacek Czaputowicz, noted that the views of the Belarusian capital and many other cities, where thousands of people protest against the falsified results of the election, prove that our people is full of determination to seek peaceful changes," Tsepkalo wrote on Telegram.

The politician expressed his gratitude to Poland for "support to the Belarusian civic society."

"Apart from the already existing support, new frameworks of assistance will be outlined in the Belarus Solidarity Plan, which [Polish] Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has recently announced," Tsepkao added.

The coordination council of the Belarusian opposition considers the authorities' suggestion of a new constitution as a first step toward talks with the society, a member of the council, Pavel Latushko, told Sputnik.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that the work on the new constitution would be reactivated.

"To a certain extent, authorities are making steps in this direction [toward dialogue]. You know, there was a suggestion to introduce changes to our current constitution. This is the first step toward talks," Latushko said.