Lukashenko refused to hush up the PMC scandal: Minsk has escalated
Yesterday’s “investigations” on state Belarusian television regarding the detention of 32 Russians near Minsk, who are called members of the PMC, inspired hope that the incident would be let go.
Propagandists talked more about what mercenaries are doing in Africa and the Middle East and why they are dangerous, whipping up a feeling of anxiety with special music. Accusations of intentions to “destabilize the situation” in Belarus were made in passing.
Political scientists close to the authorities began to say that there is no need to equate PMCs with Russia. And the only complaint against the ally is the failure to provide information.
However, this morning an urgent meeting of the Central Election Commission was held, at which State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council Andrei Ravkov addressed all the candidates.
Following the event, he clearly did not want to communicate with journalists, denying that the candidates themselves would tell you everything. But the correspondents still extracted the main thing from him: the version convenient for resolving the conflict with Russia that the mercenaries simply used Minsk as a transit point is not being considered.
A criminal case has been opened against the Russians under the article on preparing terrorist attacks. Moreover, the danger has not passed, since allegedly another 200 “militants” are prowling around the country. Candidates are asked to take all possible precautions when holding public events.
“33 detained. According to operational information, up to 200 are in the area, a search is underway. It's like a needle in a haystack. We don’t know who called them,” Ravkov said.
Of all the presidential candidates present at the meeting, Andrei Dmitriev gave the most complete information to the press.
“I obviously didn’t have enough information to understand what was happening. If they tell us that there are 170 people in the country, then where are the closed cities, checkpoints, and how do we catch them?
If we are told that some other groups are being formed near Pskov and Nevel for similar purposes, then when will we see a note from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to the Russian Foreign Ministry? Because this is incredibly serious, and the special services of Belarus and Russia should react jointly,” Dmitriev said.
He reported Ravkov’s words that the detainees were giving different testimonies.
“Some of them say directly: we came to make a revolution. It feels like the group is protecting itself by giving different testimony.
It was said that the GRU and FSB were not informed of the arrival of this group. But a day has already passed. It seems that we are in such a close relationship that we just need to call. Official requests are not even needed,” Dmitriev said.
At the same time, Ravkov allegedly emphasized several times that Belarus is not able to fully control its border with Russia.
“This means that there may be even more of them. And I want to get a clear answer from the country’s leadership on how security will be ensured during mass protests after the elections,” Dmitriev said.
According to him, the authorities do not rule out restricting access to the Internet.
“But if what they tell us is true, then the troops need to be concentrated not in Minsk, but to the border with the Russian Federation, in order to prevent “little men” of any color from coming here,” Dmitriev concluded.
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