Belarus’ authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has threatened to shut down the internet if mass protests occur during or after the upcoming presidential elections.
During the 2022 elections, Belarus witnessed widespread protests after opposition claims of election fraud.
Speaking to students at the State Linguistic University in Minsk on November 22, Lukashenko defended past internet restrictions and warned of future measures to suppress dissent.
“If it happens again, we will completely shut it down. Do you think I’ll sit idle and hope no one sends a message when the fate of the state is at risk?” he said, according to state news agency BelTa.
Lukashenko admitted that internet outages during the 2020 protests were done with his approval, arguing they were necessary to “protect the state.”
Following the disputed August 9, 2020 elections, which many Western governments deemed neither free nor fair, internet access across Belarus was cut off for days and later restricted.
The controversial elections extended Lukashenko’s decades-long rule—he has been in power since 1994—for another term. However, the United States, the European Union, and other international actors condemned the elections as rigged.
