The Prime Ministers of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia call on Belarus to conduct free and fair presidential elections in a transparent way.
"The Prime Ministers call on Belarus to conduct free and fair presidential elections in a transparent way with the participation of international observers." - reads the joint statement of these countries placed on the web site.
The Baltic countries' representatives urged the Belarusian authorities to refrain from the violence against peaceful demonstrators, release all political prisoners, and those that have been detained during the protests.
In parallel, Foreign Ministers of the European Union countries support the sanctioning of the persons involved in ordering violence against the Belarus protest participants.
The presidential elections in Belarus officially resulted in an 80.1% victory by the acting president Alexander Lukashenko. His primary opponent, Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya, has gained 10.12% of votes. On 9 August, presidential election results were publicized in the country, with this followed by mass protest actions. The opposition does not recognize the 80% votes victory of Lukashenko. People took to the streets and protested against Lukashenko's government. Following the crackdown on demonstrators, more than 6,000 were detained, including journalists. Two protesters reportedly died.
On the background of the developments, the world leaders and international organizations expressed concern over the situation in Belarus while the United States and European Union plan new sanctions against the country.
