Lukashenko on why fugitives have no chance to win Presidential election
In an interview with BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg on the side-lines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko explained why fugitives have no chance to win the Presidential election
One of the questions of the British reporter concerned the announcement of the date of the Presidential election in Belarus – set to take place on January 26th, 2025 – following the decision of the House of Representatives. The Head of State noted that there were five possible dates, “I expressed my opinion to the Parliament. It was up to deputies to decide and announce the date: January 26th.”
Steve Rosenberg quite expectedly asked about the degree of ‘freedom and democracy’ of the upcoming campaign, given the fact that ‘opposition leaders are in jail or have been forced to leave the country’.
“Do you know our opposition leaders?” Aleksandr Lukashenko asked a counter-question. “First, the opposition is those people who act inside the country in the interests of at least a minimum number of people. Whom do you call our leaders? Where are these leaders? Wake up! Second, do you probably consider those who are in prison for violating the laws to be leaders? Even if all the fugitives return here, they will not win the election. Why? Because the people understood what they wanted. If they are abroad, do something for the people, not for Lukashenko. Instead, they come to you [Western politician] and ask you to give them money. You are free not to recognise our elections and introduce new sanctions… They put seven points in front of you. They are creating armed formations near our border in order to throw them into Belarusian territory. Do you think this is the opposition?”
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko once again recalled the plans of a group of conspirators to seize power in Belarus and eliminate the current President. One of them, US citizen Yuri Zenkovich, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September 2022, recently revealed the details of the plot in the film, entitled Murderous Conspiracy. The Target is Lukashenko, screened on the Belarus 1 TV channel. The Head of State advised Steve Rosenberg to get acquainted with this interview, “He [Zenkovich] made a statement. I am very grateful to him. He told us about everything they planned to do.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, it was about seizing the President’s youngest son, putting him in a basement of one of the houses in the Gomel Region, and shooting the President’s helicopter on takeoff or landing with a heavy machine gun.
“Read it again. Tell me, please, if such facts came to light in the US, on the part of Trump? He would have been wiped off the face of the earth. He hasn’t done anything yet, but there have already been three assassination attempts on his life. You keep silence (because it concerns your country) but start beating us up for unknown reasons. Read Zenkovich’s interview, put yourself in my place and think how I should have reacted then,” the President noted.
The Head of State noted that he knew some details earlier and publicly spoke about the plans and dreams of the conspirators in 2021, after all these events, “And than Zenkovich, a US citizen, laid it all out. I am very grateful to him for that. And you reproach me after that? What do you reproach me for? Steve, if you want to come to Belarus and meet me later, I ask you to read this interview and ask yourself a question from my point of view: what should the President of Belarus have done if such a scheming had been used against him?”
“Thank you,” Steve Rosenberg said.
The President added that he had recently pardoned several people who were in Zenkovich’s group by his decree, “They were released due to health issues. Do you understand? I released the militants, and you’re telling me about some opposition. I know what the opposition does in the West. One day we’ll lay it all out, and they’ll answer to the Belarusian people what they’ve been doing and what they want. This is not the first time in the history of our people. We’ve had a lot of fugitives. Where is now a certain Survilla and the group she headed? She is sitting on your money in America or somewhere else... And these fringe elements will end up like that.”
“I hope we’ll have an opportunity to continue the conversation,” the British journalist said.
“We will. Let’s see how frank your interview will be on BBC. If you are going to be biased and distort what I said... You may not like it, you may criticise me for it, but you have to set out everything I said, without distorting it. It should be honest, without any tendentiousness and lies,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
