President Alexander Lukashenko was to be sworn in for a fourth term Friday, facing total isolation by the West over a crackdown on the Belarus opposition after his disputed election victory.
The Belarussian strongman was due to be inaugurated at a ceremony at the immense Palace of the Republic in Minsk at 10:50 GMT, in an event expected to be marked by a wholescale boycott by EU envoys.
Tens of thousands of people had protested on election night in Minsk on December 19 against what they perceived as unfair elections that gave incumbent strongman Lukashenko a fourth presidential term.
The protest was followed by a violent crackdown and detention of over 600 people, including most of the candidates who stood against Lukashenko, once famously described by Washington as Europe’s last dictator.
On the last day of 2010, Belarus also ordered the closure of the office of the OSCE in Minsk, in an apparent response to the transatlantic security group’s stinging criticism of its presidential polls.
The European Union said on Wednesday it would reinstate a travel ban on Lukashenko if he fails to release his jailed opponents. Washington is also exploring a range of possible sanctions.
But in some of his most strident remarks on the growing diplomatic standoff between Belarus and the European Union a day ahead of the inauguration, Lukashenko pledged to respond if the West moved to isolate his regime.
But in combative remarks to his government, the leader of the former Soviet republic said the West’s threat to impose travel restrictions on his team would be seen as an attempt to bring Belarus to its knees.
"No one will ever be allowed to speak to Belarus from a position of strength, using the language of ultimatums. … We do not intend to bow before anyone," Lukashenko told a government meeting.
"If someone tries to impose economic or any other kind of sanctions we must react swiftly and prepare retaliatory measures, right up to the very toughest."
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