Belarus opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova ‘tears up passport, jumps out of car’ to avoid expulsion
- Protest leader was reportedly abducted on Monday, with allies saying authorities were trying to force her out of country
- Embattled President Lukashenko warns that ‘if Belarus falls, Russia is next’, as he faces international pressure after disputed election
Authorities in Belarus tried to forcibly expel leading opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from the country, but she tore up her passport in defiance and jumped out a car window to stay, her allies said Tuesday.
Kolesnikova, one of the last of the figures still in the country leading mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, was detained at the border early Tuesday after going missing Monday.
Border officials said she had been trying to flee the country but two colleagues with her who crossed into Ukraine said she had resisted the expulsion.
At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the press secretary of the opposition’s Coordination Council, Anton Rodnenkov, and its executive secretary Ivan Kravtsov described a dramatic series of events as the three were taken to the border.
Rodnenkov and Kravtsov said they were seized in Minsk as they were on their way to Kolesnikova’s flat on Monday following reports of her abduction.