Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has stepped up efforts to reassert his control after 10 days of street protests and strikes triggered by disputed elections.
The official result gave him 80% of the vote but the opposition has denounced the poll as fraudulent.
Mr Lukashenko says he has given orders to end the unrest in the capital Minsk.
The move signalled an escalation just as EU leaders agreed to impose sanctions at a virtual summit.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, made clear that the EU did not recognise the result of the election and called on Mr Lukashenko to release hundreds of protesters who have been imprisoned.
Holding an emergency summit on the crisis, the European Union rejected Lukashenko’s re-election in a disputed vote on Aug. 9 and announced financial sanctions against officials the bloc blames for election fraud and the abuse of protesters.
“This is about the Belarusian people and their legitimate right to determine the future path of their country,” said the head of the EU’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Her comment was echoed by Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“The brave citizens of Belarus are showing their voices will not be silenced by terror or torture,” he tweeted, adding that Russia, Belarus’s giant neighbour, should not interfere.
“This is not about geopolitics but the right to choose one’s leaders.”
Lukashenko, a gruff former collective farm boss facing the biggest crisis of his 26 year rule, has blamed foreign countries for stirring unrest and funding protesters. At least two protesters have died and thousands have been jailed, many emerging to complain of beatings and abuse.
“There should no longer be any disorder in Minsk of any kind,” Lukashenko said in remarks reported by state news agency Belta, announcing the new police crackdown in the capital. “People are tired. People demand peace and quiet.”
By early Wednesday evening, there was no sign of a major new operation to clear demonstrators from the streets. Hundreds of protesters assembled in front of the Interior Ministry, which runs the police. A large number of officers were stationed there with vans, but they took no action.
Lukashenko ordered border controls tightened to prevent an influx of “fighters and arms”, and intelligence agencies to search for organisers of demonstrations.
The EU wants to avoid a repeat of violence in neighbouring Ukraine, where a pro-Moscow leader was ousted in a popular uprising six years ago, triggering a Russian military intervention and Europe’s deadliest ongoing conflict.
“Belarus must find its own path, that must happen via dialogue in the country and there must be no intervention from outside,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Ruling out any role for herself as a mediator in the crisis, Merkel said she had tried to phone Lukashenko, but “he refused to talk to me, which I regret”.
“BELARUS IS NOT EUROPE”
Russia has consistently warned the West against meddling in Belarus, which has the closest economic, cultural and political ties to Moscow of all the former Soviet republics and is central to Russia’s European defence strategy.
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused unidentified foreign powers of interfering, which he called unacceptable.
EU officials say the situation differs from Ukraine in 2014, not least because the Belarus opposition does not seek to loosen ties with Russia, only to get rid of Lukashenko.
“Belarus is not Europe,” EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton said, comparing it to pro-Western Ukraine and Georgia, both targets of Russian military operations. “Belarus is really strongly connected with Russia and the majority of the population is favourable to close links with Russia.”
But some European officials, especially in countries close to Belarus, have called for a firmer line to back the opposition and push back if Moscow supports any move to crush it.
The Kremlin faces the choice of sticking with Lukashenko to see if he can cling on, or trying to manage a transition to a new leader who would keep Minsk in Moscow’s orbit. Flight tracking data showed a Russian government plane used in the past by the FSB security service flew to Belarus and back overnight.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged the EU to reject official results giving Lukashenko 80% of the vote. A 37-year-old political novice, she stood as his main challenger in the election after better-known opposition figures were jailed or banned from standing.
“Mr. Lukashenko has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world,” said Tsikhanouskaya in English, in a video address from exile in neighbouring Lithuania.
