Events

Belarusian riots in 2010 ‘were controlled from Kyiv’

MINSK, 28 March (BelTA) – People in Kyiv controlled the Belarusian “maidan” in 2010. The statement was made by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in an interview for the Ukrainian TV show Shuster Live on 26 March, BelTA has learned.

“I had to go through that in 2010 when they came to Belarus, the Right Sector, it had a different name back then, we have pictures of them trying to turn over cars here,” noted the Belarus President. “It was filmed by Ukrainian television, Russian television, CNN, BBC, and the rest”.

According to the head of state, later on the video records were used as a testimony to rebuke the West’s accusations. “Have a look, it is not our television, you see these people wielding mining picks, crowbars, shivs, spades, breaking down doors, you can see their faces. It all happened”.

“Only those, who organized it and broke things down, have been imprisoned. The bulk of them have been released. Two or three people are left and the West is unhappy about it and claims they are political prisoners,” said Alexander Lukashenko.

“Now Belarusians say that if Lukashenko had done what Yanukovych did, things in Belarus would have gone the Ukrainian way. But our secret services have tracked the links. Do you know where the command center for our maidan in 2010 was? In Kiev,” stated the Belarus President. “We have even records of individual instructions for breaking down doors and taking government seats. I still remember these conversations”.

“Nobody was injured back then, tear gas and water cannons were not involved, no Molotov cocktails. Riot police did the things the way they had been trained. I was involved in the process. Neither Russia nor generals nor admirals. I saw it all in the situation center through dozens of cameras in the square since the seat of government is subject to access restrictions,” said Alexander Lukashenko. “I said right away that if they spit in the face of police or soldiers, god forbid, if they attack, respond immediately”.

“I don’t know the names of those, who controlled the Minsk riots from Kiev, but the Right Sector was already evolving and operational. By the way, we repulsed these units. One group was being prepared in Polesie, one or two near Brest. We threw them out fast. They were trained in Poland and Western Ukraine. Now we see real pictures. Our KGB archives have many photos and videos like that. We have recorded everything,” noted the head of state.

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