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Alexander Lukashenko continues to issue statements on the interference of foreign states, including Ukraine, in the internal affairs of Belarus.
Protests continue in Belarus, and Alexander Lukashenko continues to blame Ukraine and Western countries for maintaining power. The Old Man shuffles his subordinates, continues to be detained, flirts with Moscow.
Correspondent.net continues to monitor the situation in Belarus.
Siloviki work
TV presenters Denis Dudinsky and Dmitry Kokhno were arrested in Minsk. Previously, they publicly condemned the arrest of people by riot police on social media.
Kohno was the host of the Good Luck to Start program on the ONT television channel, and Dudinsky worked at Belteleradiocompany (BT), in particular, it was supposed to host the annual Slavianski Bazaar festival.
As a result, the presenters were sentenced to 10 days of arrest on charges of participation in an unauthorized mass event.
Member of the Coordination Council of the opposition for the peaceful transfer of power, former Belarusian Minister of Culture Pavel Latushko left the country for Poland.
The state news agency Belta republished a message on its Telegram channel saying that Latushko was “literally taken abroad in the trunk of the Polish ambassador’s car.”
Latushko in 2009-2012 was Minister of Culture of Belarus, in 2012-2019 he worked as ambassador to France, and then took over as director of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater. After Latushko supported the protests, he was fired from his position as theater director. Following Latushko, the actors announced their departure from the theater.
Power shuffle
Amid the protests, Lukashenko replaced the Secretary of State of the Belarusian Security Council and the Chairman of the Committee on State Security. Valery Vakulchik was appointed Secretary of State of the Security Council of Belarus, and Ivan Tertel, Chairman of the Committee on State Security.
Stories about Ukraine
According to Lukashenko, the situation in Belarus is largely influenced by “external interference in the internal affairs of the country and the management of protest actions from abroad.”
“It comes from Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Ukraine, which worries us the most,” Lukashenka said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov echoes him. It generally says that the radical actions in the demonstrations in Minsk provoke 200 trained extremists from Ukraine.
“There are extremist training camps in Ukraine, according to our data in the Volyn region, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and we discussed it today, I am sure that our special services should address this more substantially, they are in contact with each other. According to our estimates, about 200 extremists trained on Ukrainian territory are now in the Republic of Belarus, ”Lavrov said.
According to the minister, he has confirmed information that the radical protest in Belarus is promoted by Ukrainian organizations such as the Trident of Stepan Bandera, C14, the National Corps and the Right Sector.
“All these structures are actively involved in provoking radical actions in Minsk and other cities of Belarus, financing appropriate events, encouraging those whom they consider promising extremist leaders to bring elements of force to what is happening during the demonstration in the Belarusian capital.” . – said the Russian minister.
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called Lavrov’s statement “the fruit of a morbid fantasy.” Regarding Lukashenka’s words, Kuleba said Ukraine is ready to crack down on “hostile actions by Belarus”.
In the context of Lukashenka’s accusations, Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council and president of the European People’s Party, recalled interesting details. He said that in 2014 Lukashenka proposed to create a Ukrainian-Belarusian union with him at the head.
“I remember, I didn’t talk about it before, it happened when Minsk was involved in something like a mediation between the European Union, Russia and Ukraine during those hot days of the crisis in Ukraine. Lukashenka called me then, I was still the Prime Minister, and he directly offered to convince the EU that he can be the guarantor of a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian problem and support his idea of a Belarusian-Ukrainian union with him as president of the two states, “Tusk said.
This proposal was made in the spring of 2014.
According to Tusk, Lukashenka later hinted that this was the only way to stop Russia from aggressive intentions.
“Not out of concern for Ukraine, but out of fear of losing power. The whole world then feared that Russia would not stop at annexing Crimea, and Lukashenko feared an uncontrolled development of events, the victim of which could become not only Ukraine, but also in Belarus. It could spell their end, “Tusk said.
Relations with RF
Luakshenko has even agreed to the point that he called the information about the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny a forgery, and also committed by Belarus.
“I noticed that, seeing the Russian events, they, the west, have a new chip. Again rookie, again poisoning. So I must tell you that yesterday or the day before yesterday, I do not remember exactly, before Merkel’s speech (she said that he. .. Navalny – they wanted to shut their mouths) we intercepted the conversation. We understand that Warsaw is talking to Berlin. Two subscribers are in contact. Intercepted by our electronic military intelligence. Since there (on the western borders of Belarus) there are units deployed, and we, of course, are conducting in the sphere of radio confrontation with NATO. And we intercepted an interesting conversation, which (I will have you read it, we will prepare it and send it to the FSB) clearly says that this is a forgery. There was no Navalny poisoning, “Lukashenko told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin …
According to Lukashenka, Merkel and Germany announced the poisoning of Navalny to “dissuade Putin from sticking his nose in Belarusian affairs.”
Russian President Dmitry Peskov’s press secretary said the Kremlin is aware of Lukashenka’s words, but has not yet seen any supporting material.