A defiant President Alexander Lukashenko said a Belarusian sprinter defected at the Olympic Games only because she had been “manipulated” by outside forces and shrugged off a coordinated barrage of new Western sanctions on August 9.
Protests in Belarus
Reuters: Belarus leader shrugs off sanctions, says athlete was ‘manipulated’
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko (C) gives a press conference in Minsk on Aug. 9, 2021.
