A Russian Orthodox official has accused the US of inciting inter-Christian division in Belarus and “deliberately expos[ing]” Catholics in the country.
Russia has alleged that the US is meddling in the religious affairs of Belarus amid anti-government protests in the country.
Belarus’ State Border Guard Committee says the barring of the leader of Belarusian Catholics, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, from entering the country is due to the fact that his passport had been annulled.
On August 31, Belarusian border security officers denied a Belarusian citizen, Archbishop Tadeush Kandrusievich, the head of the Catholic Church, return into the country.
As riot police moved in to break up a demonstration in Minsk on August 26 to push demands for the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka [in Belarusian; in Russian, Lukashenko – ed.] following his disputed reelection, protesters scrambled.
Belarusian authorities have barred Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz from entering the country a day after the head of the Catholic Church in Belarus warned the nation’s political crisis could lead to civil war.
Every mainstream media outlet is covering the protests contesting the elections results in Belarus. Could this be the new Ukraine? Maybe not, but it is definitely a continuation of the White-West’s attempts to get closer to Russia’s border.
“Belarus is going through a difficult time, which, unfortunately, is being marked by bloodshed and by the thousands of civilians who have been arrested and brutally beaten”.
The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Metropolitan Epifaniy, has supported the protests in Belarus and called on the Belarusian people to “protect their dignity and freedom [and] the democratic and independent future of their country”.
Unrest is continuing in Belarus despite the departure of top opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanouskaya for neighbouring Lithuania.