Belarusian Opposition Forming Government in Exile

WARSAW (Sputnik) - Belarusian opposition is forming a government in exile, leader of the Belarusian House foundation Ales Zarembiuk said in an interview with Polish TVP World broadcaster.

"The talks on the formation of a government in exile are proceeding. They have been going on since February," Zarembiuk said.

The head of the Belarusian House noted that opposition leaders Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Pavel Latushka, in particular, are taking part in the negotiations.

"We hope that this government will be created in August," he added.

After Alexander Lukashenko won the Belarusian presidential election in August 2020 for the sixth time, the country witnessed massive protests by the opposition contesting the official results of the election.

Criminal cases have been initiated against a number of opposition leaders on the charges of incitement of a coup, creation of an extremist formation and an attempted terrorist attack. Lukashenko accused the West of direct meddling in the internal affairs of his country and underscored that the riots were orchestrated by the United States.

Several Belarusian opposition members have fled the country and traveled to Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. Belarusian chief prosecutor Andrei Shved stated that the criminal prosecution of opposition leaders Valery Tsepkalo, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Pavel Latushka will continue despite the refusal of the EU countries to extradite them to Minsk.