Belarus's most celebrated writer called on Russia to help persuade President Alexander Lukashenko to negotiate, as she arrived outside the Investigative Committee on Wednesday, where she appeared for questioning.

"Now Lukashenko speaks only to Putin. We need him to speak to the people," Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature, told reporters.

Alexievich is one of dozens of public figures who formed the opposition Coordination Council last week, with the stated aim of negotiating a peaceful transition of power after an election the opposition says was rigged.

Lukashenko has faced more than two weeks of mass demonstrations against his 26-year-old rule since the election, which official results say he won with 80 percent of the vote.

He denies electoral fraud and says the protests are funded from abroad.

Lukashenko has characterized the protests as an attempt to seize power illegally.

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