a “Russian mercenaries” — due to the sudden actions of Belarusian KGB familiar to Western readers the words again flashed in the headlines. Among those found near Minsk have detained 32 men documents show they were going to fly to Sudan or any other country of Africa, where Moscow does not fly. Forgive Moscow the Belarusian leader clearly unfriendly step in relation to its people?
Moscow — Giving a powerful impetus slowly gaining momentum quarrel with Russia, its neighbor and longtime ally Belarus said on Wednesday that 200 mercenaries from Russia under the guise of tourists penetrated into its territory to disrupt the presidential election. However, the presence in Belarus of this group of Russian mercenaries and their hostile intentions could not be confirmed from independent sources.
This was preceded by a few months, the exchanges of accusations and angry accusations between Minsk and Moscow, which are close, but capricious allies, United by a common apprehension towards the West. However, lately they fear are and to each other.
The news strengthened the version of events where he tries to convince the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with an iron hand ruling Belarus for 26 years. He claims that the reason for popular discontent in the country was foreign interference, and not his own unpopular steps.
Lukashenko has long been blaming their problems and difficulties foreigners, but it has only recently deployed its propaganda machine in Russia. First, his favorite targets were the Western countries, primarily the United States.
The official news Agency of Belarus, BelTA has published the names and birth dates of 32 detained Russian militants, calling them employees of the company “the Group of Wagner”, which is engaged in recruitment of mercenaries and is associated with a long-time supporter of President Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The Russian Embassy in Minsk said that he had asked the Belarusian authorities to provide answers to questions about media reports of mercenaries, but have not received any official information about the detained Russians.
Russia has long been the closest ally of Belarus and its major patron. Two countries share a language, similar political systems and shared a deep respect for many aspects of their life in the Soviet Union.
But the relationship deteriorated sharply when President Putin began to push Lukashenko to implement has long been stalled plan to create a “Union state” and in fact to merge the two countries, after which Russia, where the population is 15 times more than in Belarus, was the undoubted senior partner.
Lukashenko, known to StJimi extravagant deeds and extravagant claims, announced on Tuesday to have contracted the coronavirus, but fully recovered without any treatment. This statement was met with skepticism, as it is on the hands of Lukashenko. He irritated people their opinion about what the pandemic does not pose a serious danger to the health of the population. Lukashenko claimed to contain the pandemic without quarantine, if you moderately drink vodka, ride a tractor and play hockey.
In June on the orders of Lukashenko on charges of corruption arrested two of his potential rival in the presidential elections scheduled for 9 August. The President said that he prevented the conspiracy, was prepared to conduct the revolution in the interests of Russia.
On Wednesday, the government released video footage of a night RAID in a sanatorium near Minsk, where he was arrested 32 the Russian fighter. Another was arrested in another part of the country. The video shows how the heavily armed officers of the Belarusian security service, which still, as in Soviet times, called the KGB burst into the room, where he settled the alleged mercenaries. On the video you can see muscular Russians in handcuffs, and one of them is in his underwear on the floor next to Russian passports and a wad of hundred dollar bills.
But here’s the important point: among the seized during the search, things were banknotes and phone cards from Sudan, and the phones were messages in Arabic. This suggests that the arrested Russians could head to North Africa, or returning from, but not participated in the operation against Belarus.
According to BelTA, the arrested Russians raised suspicions immediately upon arrival to Belarus, as each of them had three heavy suitcases, they were dressed in military-style clothing and they were themselves “in the unusual manner of Russian tourists”, abstaining from alcohol and attending Nightclubs.
“A group of Wagner”, which is accused of sending these people sends militants, mostly ex-Russian military personnel in Syria, Libya, Sudan and other countries. According to American officials, leads this company to a Russian citizen Prigogine, who is known as “Putin’s cook” due to the fact that he received many contracts for catering services in the Russian armed forces.
In the United States Prigogine against the accusation of meddling in the American presidential election of 2016, which was carried out by another company — factory trolley from St. Petersburg under the name of Agency Internet research. He has repeatedly denied any connection with the “Wagner Group” and their involvement in the intervention in the American elections.
Russian SPItel Zakhar Prilepin, who fought in Eastern Ukraine in the ranks of separatists whose rebellion was instigated and supported by Moscow, said Wednesday the Russian media that he recognised some of the prisoners, shown by the Belarusian TV. It was the veterans of his old unit from Donetsk, Russian-speaking Ukrainian region, which in 2014 declared himself an independent Pro-Russian state.
According to him, although these people were in Belarus, they probably went with some job in another place. The channel of social networks, which is a Russian war correspondent and is often used by Russian mercenaries, also said that the arrested Russians, most likely, were in Belarus in transit, heading to conflict zones in Africa, where soldiers of the “group of Wagner’s” actively participate in hostilities.
However, President Lukashenko stated that the purpose of mercenaries is Belarus, and on Wednesday convened an urgent meeting of the security Council to discuss the threat from Russia. BelTA quoted him as saying that he ordered the head of the Belarusian KGB ask Russia a question: “What’s happening?”
According to critics, these conversations are an attempt to divert attention because the President is opposed to increasing internal opposition. The riot police repeatedly and brutally suppressed street protests in Minsk and other cities after the arrest in June of two popular candidates. The third promising candidate, the former Ambassador of Belarus in Washington, last week fled to Russia to avoid arrest.
After his arrest, the strongest opponent of Lukashenko, Viktor Babariko, which led in the past owned by the Bank of Russia, the Belarusian President said that he tore the Moscow’s plot to overthrow his government. Independent observers have largely overlooked this statement, saw it as a clumsy attempt of Lukashenka to enlist the support of the West before election repression.
The news of the arrest of alleged Russian mercenaries appeared a few hours later after Lukashenko visited the Belarusian military base, where he boasted to the assembled military and police from the riot police for their work on the revival of the security services and military establishment after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“No, we gave nothing, we don’t owe anyone anything,” said he to the officers, obviously trying to humiliate Russia, which for many years supplying Belarus arms and trains the military.
Lukashenka has learned to deftly maneuver between Russia and the West, extracting political and economic benefits. But in recent months, he increasingly moved away from Moscow, especially after the February visit to Minsk, Secretary Mike Pompeo.
After the visit of Secretary of state, one hundred��our first since the beginning of 1990-ies, Washington appointed the first 10 years of the Ambassador in Belarus and the two countries promised to improve their frozen relationship.
