West's Sanctions On Minsk Aim At Provoking New Wave Of Anti-Government Protests - Moscow

The purpose of the Western sanctions pressure on Minsk is to provoke a new wave of anti-government protests across Belarus, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said in an interview Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2021) The purpose of the Western sanctions pressure on Minsk is to provoke a new wave of anti-government protests across Belarus, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said in an interview Sputnik.

"If we talk about Belarus, we perfectly understand that the purpose of the sanctions pressure exerted on Minsk is to deliberately bring down the standard of living of ordinary citizens, provoke a new wave of anti-government protests. How else can one explain the imposition of restrictions on entire sectors of the Belarusian industry, its largest enterprises, on which the welfare of hundreds of thousands of Belarusians depends?" Pankin said.

After the presidential election held in Belarus on August 9, 2020, in which Alexander Lukashenko won for the sixth time with 80.

1% of the vote, massive opposition protests took place in the country. Relations between Belarus and Western countries after the election deteriorated sharply, with a number of them gradually introducing sanctions against Belarusian officials, as well as enterprises, accusing Minsk of election and human rights violations.

Lukashenko has since repeatedly accused the West of directly interfering in Belarusian affairs, claiming that the unrest is directed by the United States, with Europeans merely going along with it. Among the countries from which these protest actions are coordinated, he named Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Ukraine.