France is stepping up the pressure on Belarus´ longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko, with President Emmanuel Macron telling a prominent French weekly that "Lukashenko must go."
The European Union said Thursday it does not recognize Lukashenko as president of Belarus because of large-scale protests by Belarusians who question the results of last month´s presidential election that Lukashenko claims he overwhelmingly won. Opposition members and some poll workers in Belarus say the vote was rigged.
Ahead of a trip Monday to Lithuania and Latvia, Macron was quoted in Sunday´s Journal du Dimanche newspaper as saying "it´s clear that Lukashenko must go."
"What´s happening in Belarus is a crisis of power, an authoritarian power that can´t manage to accept the logic of democracy and is clinging on by force," the newspaper quotes Macron as saying.
In a speech Saturday to the virtual UN General Assembly, Belarus´ foreign minister warned Western nations against interfering or imposing sanctions over the country´s disputed presidential election and the government's violent crackdown on protesters.
Thousands of Belarusian citizens have taken part in huge rallies since the Aug. 9 election, which they say was rigged in favor of Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years and just took a secretive oath of office for a new term.
