MINSK, 16 September (BelTA) – During the meeting with the country's political core on 16 September Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko debunked myths about the situation in the country and revealed genuine plans of the opponents, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that a step-by-step analysis of events in the country had unearthed genuine plans and tactics of external aggressors. The head of state stated that for the last ten years they have been scrupulously preparing for this zero hour. “In order to remove all the masks, let's name these players. At the level of global centers the number includes primarily the United States of America, to be exact, their network of foundations designed to support so-called democracy. American satellites – Poland, Lithuania, Czechia, and unfortunately our Ukraine – worked on the European continent,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
Each country played its own role, he stressed. Czechia has been a resource hub for a long time. Poland initially worked as an incubator of media channels (Belsat, Nexta, and other ones) and then as a platform for a government in exile. “Wounded by the Belarusian nuclear power plant construction project, Lithuania worked as a battering ram of Belarusian-European relations. Despite our unwavering support for the country (for instance, in matters of territorial integrity and other ones), Ukraine became an outpost of political provocations contrary to the spirit of our mutual relations,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added. “Thus, we clearly see subjects of this process, their conductors, and abettors. The organizers built the tactics in accordance with the classic American textbook on color revolutions by the notorious Gene Sharp. Today we can look back and analyze in detail all the stages of the scenario meant to destroy our country, which fortunately we have not allowed to come to fruition and will not allow.”
The first stage. Preparations
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that foiled attempts to stage color revolutions in 2006 and 2010 changed the approach to influencing Belarus. In his words, foreign parties moved from direct-action technologies to methods of soft power and transformation of the government system from within.
“They started using new ways to shake Belarus by targeting the unwavering supporters of the president: residents of the regions, hardworking Belarusians, public sector employees, pensioners. By the way, they tried to use the tactics in Syria and Venezuela. You may recall how methods of so-called social protest were tested in response to Ordinance No.3 [on preventing social dependency]. It was these protests that later on gave rise to dozens of bloggers, who started brainwashing various social groups via YouTube and Telegram channels under the guise of the fight for people's interests,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
In his words, after attempts to shake the society were suppressed in 2017, the strategists started working to create permanent hotbeds of disaffection in the regions.
The second stage. The parliamentary elections
Half a year before the presidential election the destabilization technologies that had been created were tested in the course of the parliamentary elections, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated. It was then that a network of specialized Telegram channels with clear-cut roles started working at full capacity in order to besmirch the government, undermine the foundation of the state ideology, primarily by resorting to fake news and forgeries, Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.
New forms of street activities were tested in addition to pumping up the information channels during the period of the parliamentary elections. A “youth bloc” was specifically created ahead of the elections. The youth bloc actively shaped the mood of disaffection in various social groups under the guise of nominating candidates for parliamentary seats. It exploited topics that were seemingly removed from politics: the law on military draft deferment, mandatory jobs for university graduates, legalization of drugs, the matter of Article 328 of the Criminal Code [illegal turnover of narcotic substances], and so on.
