Russia is to move ahead with a second US$500 million loan to Belarus next month, following talks between the two countries’ leaders amid uproar in the West over the grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident blogger.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held a second day of talks, as well as a yacht tour, in the Russian city of Sochi on Saturday.
Russia promised Belarus a US$1.5 billion loan last year as part of Moscow’s efforts to stabilize its neighbor. Minsk received a first installment of US$500 million in October last year.
Photo: AFP
Belarus would receive the second tranche before the end of next month, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Several Western countries accused Belarus of piracy this week after Belarusian air traffic control informed the pilot of a Ryanair passenger plane of a hoax bomb threat.
Minsk scrambled a MiG-29 fighter plane to escort the plane, and then arrested Roman Protasevich, a blogger and critic of Lukashenko who was on board.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Arrested with Protasevich was his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people rallied in Warsaw in support of the Belarusian opposition.
Among those present were Protasevich’s parents who are based in Poland.
“I’m calling on all EU countries and the US to please help us free Roman and Sofia, as well as everyone else imprisoned,” his mother Natalia Protasevich said.
“We want to live in a free country, in a country where everyone has the right to express his beliefs,” added his father, Dmitry Protasevich.
The crowd chanted “Long Live Belarus” and held up the opposition’s red and white flag, as well as signs with slogans such as “Help Belarus,” “Freedom for Belarus” and “North Korea in the Middle of Europe.”
“Things look really bad now. That’s why we need to do something, show those fighting back home that they’re not alone,” said Natallia Burak, a 35-year-old Belarusian saleswoman living in Warsaw. “I have a lot of hope now that Europe will help us, because it’s hard to fight against a regime that has everything, that has power, whereas here we are just armed with flags.”
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