Lukashenko: Belarus' ill-wishers move from riot methods to strangling tactics

The president said that he considers it his duty to explain the country's stance on all the processes which are going on around the country and to outline development prospects in view of the current situation to the Belarusian people and the international community.

“As we have expected, our ill-wishers from the outside and from within have changed their methods of attacking the state. They have crossed many red lines, have crossed the boundaries of common sense and human morals. This is not just the information war, this this a modern hybrid war. It is essential to do everything to prevent it from turning into a hot war,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “They cannot forgive us either TNT [seized by the Belarusian security service] or the ‘mankurts'. Therefore, they are afraid of what we might learn from their testimonies. Everything that they, including the recently apprehended ones, have testified about will soon be made public.”

“This is why they have moved from organizing riots to strangling tactics. They are looking for new vulnerable spots, and they are targeting not only us. We are a testing site for them before they move East. They will test everything here and then will go there,” the head of state said.

In his words, one of the extremist Telegram channels based outside of Belarus has gained visibility by working against Belarus and is now working against Russia. According to the president, this shows who the true target of western strategists is.