Foreign minister summons Belarusian Ambassador to voice disagreement with protest crackdown

The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček summoned the Belarusian ambassador to Prague, Valery Kurdyukov, on Wednesday in order to highlight his country’s disagreement with the events surrounding last week’s presidential election in Belarus and the subsequent violent crackdown on opposition protestors. The ministry also dismissed the statement by President Lukashenko that the Czech Republic is organising demonstrations in Belarus, Mr. Petříček tweeted on Thursday.

President Lukashenko achieved a landslide victory in the elections according to official results. However, the opposition says the vote count was rigged and its protesters were subsequently crushed by police action during which at least one protestor died. The Belarusian president also accused the Czech Republic of being one of the states from which the initial protests on Sunday were organised.