Mikhail Veller: Lukashenka will lose honest elections

Famous Russian writer Mikhail Veller thinks the Belarusian dictator cannot win the honest elections.

Mikhail Veller said it on May 4 in the programme “Osoboye Mnenie” on Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy) radio, commenting on relations between Lukashenka and the West.

“It is not that Lukashenka now wants to sit on two chairs. He wants to sit on a chair, on a stump, in an armchair on the body part usually used for sitting. I understand him perfectly. He would like to have good relations with the West. It is very difficult, because the West wants democratic elections, but in this case Lukashenka won't be re-elected. Someone else will be elected. I personally would welcome it in terms of democracy,” Mikhail Veller said.

None elections in Belarus have been recognised by the international community since 1996. In 2004, head of the Central Election Commission Lidzia Yarmoshyna was banned from entering the EU and the US for electoral frauds. Travel restrictions were also imposed on almost 200 Belarusian officials after the 2010 elections.