Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to Declare Herself President of Belarus, Says Spokesperson

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the presidential candidate from the opposition in Belarus, is preparing a statement in which she will declare herself the president of the country, according to the Polish publication Rzeczpospolita, citing the candidate's press secretary Anna Krasulina.

It has been noted that the opposition candidate's headquarters hopes that Western countries will extend their support and recognize her as the head of state. Tikhanovskaya's supporters have also spoken about the mass nature of peaceful protests in Belarusian cities and emphasized that the brutal dispersal of these protests must never happen again.

Previously, it was reported that the opposition candidate Tikhanovskaya had initiated the creation of a Coordinating Council for the transfer of power in the country and called on European countries to assist in organizing a dialogue with the Belarusian authorities.

Since the presidential elections held on August 9, protests have continued in Belarus, with participants expressing their dissatisfaction with the election results, which declared current President Alexander Lukashenko as the winner with 80 percent of the votes. Official data indicates that more than 6,700 people were detained in the early days of the protests. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic, hundreds of people have been injured during the unrest, including more than 120 law enforcement personnel, and one protester has died.