As of: February 22, 2024, 5:15 a.m
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
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Alexander Lukashenko.
President of Belarus © Pavel Bednyakov/Imago
Parliamentary and local elections are coming up in Belarus.
The ruler Lukashenko is making accusations of a conspiracy against the opposition.
Minsk - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow, has many similarities in his governing style with Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin.
He does not tolerate any opposition and regularly incites against them.
There will be parliamentary and local elections in Belarus on Sunday (February 25).
According to Lukashenko, the opposition could try to seize power “by force”.
Belarus ruler Lukashenko incites against opposition: “Violent seizure of power”
According to the state news agency
Belta
, he accused the opposition of working with foreign secret services.
The opposition and “its foreign handlers from the special services” are preparing three “main scenarios” for the election, he said at a meeting with state bodies of the Belarusian security apparatus.
“They will try to undermine us again,” emphasized Lukashenko, referring to the elections.
“Organizing a coup or a violent seizure of power directly during the election campaign” was the most desirable scenario for the opposition, Lukashenko claimed.
At the same time, however, he said that even the opposition considers this possibility to be unlikely.
Lukashenko accuses the opposition of preparing for a coup: “Want to trigger a new wave of protests”
The second scenario put forward by the Belarusian ruler, however, is the most important and the more likely development.
If Lukashenko has his way, the opposition abroad will use the current election campaign “as a rehearsal and initial phase for preparing a coup” in the 2025 presidential elections.
He spoke of a “conspiracy” for which all forces and resources were being used.
We are looking for new “boiling points,” said Lukashenko, in order to “trigger a new wave of protest.”
In the past, the autocrat has repeatedly had to deal with large waves of protests, which were often violently suppressed in Belarus and characterized as a foreign conspiracy.
Opposition politicians were jailed.
The Belarusian president also holds the same opinion in the current elections.
Western countries would wait for mistakes by the Belarusian authorities so that they could then exploit these mistakes for their own purposes.
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In the context of the third scenario he posed, Lukashenko boasted about the crackdown on human rights groups in his country.
“The third backup scenario is a long-term game with extensive use of soft power tools in case the first two scenarios fail,”
Belta
quoted him as saying .
This “game” will not stop “as long as sovereign Belarus exists.”
Since they will not allow a “coup” in their country, it is likely “that this particular scenario will actually be used.”
But “individual instruments of this soft power have already been neutralized”.
This means that stronger action is being taken against “anti-Belarusian foundations and alleged human rights organizations in Belarus”.
In addition, parties have been newly registered.
Despite these measures, Lukashenko is apparently concerned that public opinion could develop against him.
“We need to influence emotionally vulnerable people through social networks, develop new communication channels and try to control the crowds,” he openly emphasized to his security officials.
(bb)