Leading European Parliament parties declared Lukashenko persona non grata

Also, these parties do not recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the newly elected President of Belarus and consider him persona non grata in the EU.

The initiator of the appeal was the President of the Renovating Europe Party, the former Prime Minister of Romania Dachian Ciolos. The leaders of the European People's Party, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the Greens-European Free Alliance and the European Conservatives and Reformists group also left their signatures under it. These five groups out of eight, represented in the European Parliament, occupy 560 out of 705 seats there, the Kommersant newspaper notes.

"We propose to restart the target programs of the European Union (EU), which will help the repressed residents of Belarus and their families", - said Dachian Cholosh. In his opinion, the EU should reassess its policy towards Belarus.

The victory in the presidential elections in Belarus, according to official data, was again won by long-term President Alexander Lukashenko, who gained 80.1%. Representatives of the Belarusian opposition call this result falsified and believe that Alexander Lukashenko was defeated. Thousands of protests and strikes are taking place in the country. On August 14, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the EU does not recognize the election results, a similar statement was made today by British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab.

Alexander Lukashenko himself says that he is not going to resign or hold new elections. “You will never expect me to do something under pressure,” the Belarusian leader stressed. “There will be no (elections). Because there will be no MZKT, no MAZ, or BELAZ, we will destroy everything in six months.” He noted that he is ready to share his powers, "but not under pressure or across the street", recalling that work has begun on introducing amendments to the country's constitution. "Until you kill me, there will be no other elections," Alexander Lukashenko said at one of today's meetings with the striking workers.