Websites of Tikhanovskaya's office, Coordination Council of Belarusian opposition branded as extremist - Interior Ministry

MINSK. Jan 26 (Interfax) - The websites of the office of Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition have been branded as extremist in Belarus, the Belarusian Interior Ministry said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

The list of entities, networks and individual entrepreneurs involved in extremist activity has grown with the websites of the Office of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the Analysts of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and the Coordination Council.

Tikhanovskaya stood in the Belarusian presidential election in 2020 after the Belarusian Central Elections Commission refused to register the campaign of her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was later detained.

According to the Belarusian Central Elections Commission, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko gained 80.1% of the vote, while his chief opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, got 10.12%. The opposition rejected the election results as falsified.

Mass protects continued in Belarus for six months after the presidential election.

Tikhanovskaya's supporters established the Coordination Council in the post-election period to call for a broad public dialogue on a mechanism for a repeat presidential election among other issues. The Belarusian authorities declared the Coordination Council unconstitutional.

The Belarusian State Security Committee included Tikhanovskaya and Pavel Latushko, a member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition, in the list of entities and individuals involved in terrorist activity.

A number of EU members recognized Tikhanovskaya as the leader of Belarusian opposition forces.