Petr Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich
urged
the members of the Assembly not to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus
and let the citizens of the country choose their future themselves.
“The solution to the problem belongs to Belarus, it is in the hands of the citizens of the country, and they should start a dialogue with each other. Both the Council of Europe and Russia have always supported such a dialogue. However, we should not do one thing — we should not try to mediate this dialogue. We have seen the consequences of the European mediation during the coup in Ukraine in 2014. Belarus does not need such support! I am convinced that the Union State, and Belarus and Russia are its member states, will resolve that situation,” said Petr Tolstoy.
At the same time, he believes that it is ”strange“ to talk about election fraud, as the representatives of PACE and OSCE did not observe the elections, and there is no evidence that the results of the elections were rigged.
”The absolute majority of citizens of Belarus supported their President, and this is the most important thing. However, our colleagues in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe believe that this is a good reason for interference in the internal affairs of this state, for calls for a change of power, amendments to the Constitution and electoral law,“ Petr Tolstoy told the journalists.
Today, the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy discussed the post-election situation in Belarus after the presidential elections held on 9 August 2020. The former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya took part in the meeting and called for individual sanctions against the Belarusian authorities. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya left the meeting before the end of the discussion.
