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#Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vows to deliver ‘freedom’ in Belarus

#Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vows to deliver ‘freedom’ in Belarus

August 12, 2020 | 12:07pm

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday pledged the US would deliver freedom to Belarus, which is being roiled by days of unrest following the disputed reelection of its authoritarian president, and other countries like Russia, China and Iran that pose threats to democracy.

“We will continue to speak about the risks to the Belarusian people,” Pompeo said in a speech in the Czech capital of Prague. “We want them to have freedom in the same way that people do across the world.”

Pompeo, the US’ top diplomat, expressed concern about how Russia is meddling in elections to disrupt power centers and Chinese-owned telecommunications networks that can be used for espionage.

“Russia continues to seek to undermine your democracy, your security through disinformation campaigns and through cyberattacks,” he said. “It’s even tried to rewrite your history.”

Pompeo singled out the Chinese Communist Party as “even more of a threat.”

“In your country alone, we see influence campaigns against your politicians and security forces, the theft of industrial data that you have created through your innovation and creativity, and we’ve seen the use of economic leverage to stifle freedom itself,” Pompeo said at the news conference with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Pompeo said Czech lawmakers should resist Chinese attempts to influence the country, noting how Beijing has threatened to retaliate against them for supporting Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“The CCP is already enmeshed in our economies, in our politics, in our societies in ways the Soviet Union never was,” he said.

Babis said the events unfolding in Belarus were “unacceptable.”

“It was shocking to see what has happened,” he said. ”To see something like that happening in Europe is so shocking so close to us. It is scandalous.”

Mike Pompeo in Prague, Czech Republic
Mike Pompeo in Prague, Czech RepublicAP

The remarks by Pompeo, on the second day of a four-day trip through the region, came after the top opposition leader in Belarus fled to Lithuanian after Sunday’s election that gave strongman President Alexander Lukashenko a lopsided win and continued his rule that began in 1994.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher who took over her husband’s campaign after he was jailed, said she fled to protect her children.

Lukashenko won 80 percent of the vote to Tikhanovskaya’s 10 percent, but she refused to concede claiming the election was rigged.

Protesters have clashed with police since the election results were announced.

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