EVIDENCE SHOWS US PLOTTED COUP IN BELARUS
By Press TV.
June 24, 2021 | EDUCATE!
Above Photo: AFP.
Belarus' Defense Minister Says There Is "Irrefutable" Evidence Of The
Involvement Of The United States In A Coup Attempt In The European Country.
Viktor Khrenin said on Wednesday that Belarusian investigators now know that
US government agencies were involved in preparations for a coup in Belarus.
"A couple of months ago. the joint operation of Belarusian and Russian
intelligence thwarted a coup attempt involving the physical elimination of
the head of the Belarusian state and members of his family," Khrenin said in
a video address at the ninth Moscow Conference on International Security.
The investigation revealed "irrefutable" evidence of US state agencies'
involvement, he added.
In April, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said a coup and
assassination attempt against him and his family had been thwarted.
He said foreign intelligence services, most likely "the FBI, the CIA" were
involved.
Lukashenko won a sixth term in office in the August 2020 presidential
election. His main political rival, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, protested the
result, claiming there had been voter fraud.
Western governments came out in support of Tsikhanouskaya, repeating the
allegations of vote-rigging.
The European Union announced on September 15 the same year that it did not
recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus.
The president rejects fraud allegations, blaming Western countries for
orchestrating demonstrations that followed the election and conspiring to
oust his government, which has secured a lifeline $1.5 billion loan from
Russia.
On Monday, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed
a bunch of new sanctions on Belarusian entities and officials in a
coordinated response to the grounding of an intra-EU flight in Minsk.
On May 23, the Ryanair plane had to make an emergency landing at the Minsk
International Airport, following a reported bomb scare that proved to be a
false threat later.
A MiG-29 fighter was scrambled to escort the airliner, giving rise to
initial reports that the airliner had been forced to land.
Belarus released a transcript of communications between the Minsk air
traffic control and the Ryanair flight, in which the crew is told, "You have
a bomb on board," and urged to land in Minsk.
Belarusian law enforcement authorities detained dissident figure Roman
Protasevich, the co-founder of a Telegram channel that is viewed as
extremist by the government, as well as a female companion identified as
Sofia Sapega, after the plane was diverted to the Minsk airport. The Belarus
state TV said Protasevich had confessed to organizing "riots."