The wave of arrests in Minsk over the past two days and the erosion of key civil rights and fundamental democratic freedoms, including that of the press, are of the deepest concern, Italy's foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"These serious developments also follow an elections which according to many observers, not only local ones, have disappointed the expectations set by the international community," said the statement.
The statement urged Minsk authorities to start a dialogue with the opposition "as soon as possible" and to implement all necessary measures to ease tensions.
"Italy will unfailingly offer every useful form of support to a stable and democratic Belarus," the statement underlined.
