MINSK, 17 November (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko urged to restore order in Minsk at the government conference held on 17 November to discuss topical foreign policy issues, BelTA has learned.
At the beginning of the meeting which was attended by high-ranking officials of the Belarus President Administration, the National Assembly, the State Secretariat of the Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Security Committee the head of state shared his opinion on one of the topical issues. He remarked that he receives a lot of information every day. “I want to cite a few things from the report. Those who need it will understand. Here are some quotes concerning the latest news: ‘The behavior of the law enforcement (this is part of the quote) testifies to the increasing fear of the government of the Belarusian people'. This is what one of priests is writing. The second one is echoing his words: ‘I don't understand why they are scoffing at the portraits of the victims, at flowers in their memory, why they need this devilish disregard for icon lamps and icons, why they ruin improvised memorials in the yard of his house, along roads? What's the point?”' the head of state read out.
In this regard, the head of state recalled that he had already spoken about the plan which had been used to organize protests in Belarus. “This plan came from abroad – from Poland, Lithuania, and the USA. Maybe, from other countries as well. These blueprints are distributed by those who fled our country, I will not even call their names,” the president said.
According to the head of state, after the failure of a “blitzkrieg” on the election day and after the election the opponents of the government started to request the recount of votes. However, when they saw the preparedness for that, they started to call for the re-run and the so-called peaceful rallies. “And when they got a signal that we are prepared for the re-run, they issued the next demand which was to surrender power, i.e. surrender the country. They were intent on radicalization of protests, especially in Mink, they called for work stoppage and withdrawal of deposits from banks,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Protests were moved to house yards. “They see that nothing is working out in the streets, that protests started to fade away. What's next? Some people in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, in these centers, were concerned about what to do next because everything could have faded away into nothing, and they just needed to keep it going until it gets warmer. As if warmer days could make a difference,” the head of state said. “They failed in the streets and moved to yards. Tomorrow they will come to your apartments because they will fail to do anything in yards either.”
“A concerning thing is why they go to yards. The second thing is why they organize cemetery-like memorials in Minsk,” the Belarusian leader wondered.
In his words, it was an attempt to put psychological pressure on the population. “Just imagine what people feel on passing by a cemetery in wonderful, beautiful Minsk in these circumstances aggravated by the panic from the pandemic…”
“But the most dangerous thing is that a process of radicalization has started. Everybody has already noticed that. And these places, these yards have already turned into a place of discord. Some people hang out pro-fascist ribbons, other people, hating it, cut them off. And people start fighting. The result is what happened at one of the sports grounds,” the president said. “It was my instruction to build a sports ground for children here. They have turned it into a cemetery. Everybody saw it, they were holding a vigil continuously broadcasting it. You are aware of the outcome.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that such places of confrontation can be turned into places to start a civil war if the radicalization continues. “This is the main goal – if they fail to do anything, as they write, by peaceful means, they will try to spark a civil war. Such things happened a hundred years ago. This is not new. And our Belarus will turn into an epicenter of armed conflict, they will come here to completely form this buffer zone. Who wants it? You? I think you don't. I don't want it either,” the head of state said.
The president revealed what the municipal services had done with an improvised memorial in Minsk. “Igor Petrovich [Head of the Belarus President Administration Igor Sergeyenko], you and the prosecutor general please ask these activists, their names are known, who ruined icons, icon lamps and flowers,” he said. “Very carefully, we relocated these memorials to a place where they should be – to a cemetery. We want people to see that we are not vandals. They [people with destructive moods] must be aware of that. But they do not need to show the way how ‘the dictator' and his people who fulfilled his instructions (they dubbed them slaves already) handled the situation. They don't need it. They need to show that we are vandals. But we will show them what we actually did. Law enforcement bodies should look into these things. Stop tolerating these fake news! We do not shut anybody up but they must tell the truth! And they should be responsible for their lies.”
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized: “It is inadmissible to turn Minsk into a cemetery! This is what 99.9% of Minskers think. Therefore, there will no memorials, which they promote as as harbinger of a future civil war, in Minsk.”
According to the head of state, he has recently instructed the chairman of the Minsk City Hall and Natalya Kochanova, who is the presidential envoy in Minsk, to prepare a corresponding draft document and to submit it to the city council session for approval. “The main objective is to restore order in Minsk, carefully, so as not to give them reasons to call us names. It is necessary to sort things out in Minsk this week,” the president said.
He also instructed the prime minister and the head of the Belarus President Administration to make sure that all Belarusian regions are doing the same.
“Winter is coming, and this winter will not be easy. It was for a reason that I had made so many trips to regions and had asked agrarians to procure food. I was informed yesterday that stabilizing funds with all kinds of foodstuffs had been created all over the country. We have enough food, there are even excessive amounts,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Together with law enforcement bodies you will restore and maintain order in the society. There should be no clashes when some people hang out these ribbons, others cut them off, then they start fighting against each other and die. We must prevent that. These hotbeds should be eradicated from the society.”
