Russia’s Victory Day celebration on Tuesday was the final time the Belarusian chief was seen in public.
A photograph of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been revealed by a state information outlet after rising hypothesis over his well being.
The picture, posted on the Telegram channel of Pul Pervovo, a information outlet reporting on Lukashenko’s actions, featured him sporting a bandage on his left hand. It stated the president was working at a army command base.
On Sunday, BeLTA state information company reported that Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko learn a message from Lukashenko, 68, throughout an annual ceremony at which younger folks swear their allegiance to the flag.
In line with the opposition information outlet Euroradio, Lukashenko was taken to an elite Minsk clinic on Saturday.
A Russian on-line publication, Podyom, quoted a senior member of the Duma decrease home of parliament, Konstantin Zatulin, as saying that “[Lukashenko] has merely fallen sick … and doubtless wants a relaxation.”
The final time Lukashenko was seen in public was on Tuesday throughout Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations in Moscow. Rumours started to flow into then after studies that he regarded drained and unsteady as he skipped a lunch hosted by President Vladimir Putin.
The Belarusian chief additionally didn’t converse at an occasion in Minsk marking the anniversary of him taking on the presidency.
On Monday, the Kremlin stated there had been no official announcement from Minsk about Lukashenko’s well being. It stated it was greatest to be guided by official statements from the Belarusian authorities.
Lukashenko has grow to be extra depending on Russia for vitality and loans for the reason that Russian invasion of Ukraine final 12 months.
Exiled Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya instructed her supporters to be ready for “each state of affairs” in response to the rising rumours surrounding Lukashenko’s well being.
On Twitter, she wrote: “There are a lot of rumours concerning the dictator Lukashenko’s well being. For us, it means just one factor: we must be effectively ready for each state of affairs. To show Belarus on the trail to democracy & to stop Russia from interfering. We’d like the worldwide neighborhood to be proactive & quick.”
There are a lot of rumors concerning the dictator Lukashenka’s well being. For us, it means just one factor: we must be effectively ready for each state of affairs. To show Belarus on the trail to democracy & to stop Russia from interfering. We’d like the worldwide neighborhood to be proactive & quick. pic.twitter.com/qfnsnPYBMZ
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) May 15, 2023
On Sunday, Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, stated the opposition was engaged on a joint motion plan “with democratic forces” for “when one thing occurs”.
Below the Belarusian structure, if Lukashenko can’t rule, his job is handed in a caretaker capability to the speaker of the higher home of parliament till an elections is held.
The present speaker is Natalya Kochanova, Lukashenko’s former chief of employees, who’s thought to be a loyalist and hardliner.
Lukashenko, who has dominated Belarus since 1994, has used his powers to place down protests and impose prolonged jail phrases on opponents.
