Hundreds protest in Minsk as Putin, Lukashenka discuss 'integration'

Hundreds of people marched through the Belarusian capital on Saturday (December 7) to protest plans to further integrate with Russia in what correspondents have called one of the biggest unsanctioned rallies there in recent times.

Many held red-striped white banners, the banned flag of the first independent Belarusian state, as well as EU flags, as they marched through Minsk.

Inspired by a similar protest in the Baltic states 30 years ago, pro-democracy supporters also linked hands along a major road in the city. There were no early reports of police arrests.

The demonstrations come as the leaders of Russia and Belarus are scheduled to meet on December 7 to discuss a union treaty between the two countries amid increasing pressure by Moscow on Minsk for further integration.

The talks between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Belarus’s Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the Black Sea resort of Sochi coincide with the 20th anniversary of the union treaty.

Relations between Belarus and the United States have been on the mend as well. The two countries announced on September 17 that they plan to resume hosting ambassadors after an 11-year hiatus.

Washington and Minsk began to reconsider their frosty relationship after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and began supporting separatist formations in eastern Ukraine, raising concerns in Belarus about its own territorial integrity.

Based on RFE