Belarus police launch sweeping anti-riot drills ahead of January's election

TALLINN, Estonia -- Belarusian police on Tuesday launched sweeping anti-riot drills ahead of January’s election in which authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is seeking a seventh term, a signal from the authorities that they wouldn't tolerate any protests.

Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov said that the exercise is intended to train the country's police force for blocking “any manifestation of extremism and terrorism” and prevent any "attempts to draw citizens into unlawful actions and any violation of public order.”

Belarus’ opposition-leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya denounced the drills as a dress rehearsal for another round of brutal crackdown on dissent.

“The security forces’ training marks preparation for a crackdown on dissent before the fictitious election,” Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press. “Drills in suppression of citizens aren’t a sign of force, they are a sign of fear. No such intimidation would suppress the Belarusians’ striving for freedom and democracy.”

The Interior Ministry released a video showing the drills with helmeted police in black riot gear beating their shields with truncheons in preparation for dispersing a protest. One episode featured an officer arresting a man who was posing as a voter holding a ballot, twisting his arm right next to the ballot box. Other scenes showed gun-toting special forces deploying to take control of a building.

“Our opponents, primarily abroad, just can’t calm down and they use all tools and opportunities they have to try to destabilize the situation again,” said Alexander Volfovich, the secretary of Belarus’ Security Council.

Belarusian authorities responded to massive protests that were sparked by the widely disputed 2020 vote that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office with a brutal crackdown in which about 65,000 people were arrested.

Major opposition figures were either imprisoned or fled the country. Human rights activists say Belarus now holds about 1,300 political prisoners and that many of them are denied adequate medical care and contact with their families.

The authorities have intensified the repression ahead of the Jan. 26 election. Hundreds have been arrested in recent raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners and participants in online chats created by residents of apartment buildings in various Belarusian cities.

On Monday, Lukashenko also issued a decree stripping 21 military and law enforcement officials of their ranks for their “unlawful action” in 2020. While the presidential office didn’t give any names or provide details, the move appeared to punish those in the ranks whose loyalties wavered during the protests.

At the same time, Lukashenko has pardoned 146 political prisoners since July in what observers saw as a signal that he’s open for a dialogue with the U.S. and the European Union, which had imposed sweeping sanctions because of his crackdowns on dissent. Those freed had health problems, wrote petitions for pardons and said they repented.