Lukashenko: “The Americans finally noticed us”
The United States helped the Belarusian leadership carry out a raider takeover of Belgazprombank, owned by the Russian Gazprom and Gazprombank, and the leadership of the Russian Federation knows this.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced this at a closed meeting with activists of the Minsk region in the city of Soligorsk, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“My last observation: on the 24th I noticed that they saw it and understood it. When we shut down this Gazprom bank, they understood everything... The Americans shut down this bank for money laundering. If the Americans had not put pressure on the Latvian bank last year, they would hardly have given this information,” Lukashenko said.
The Belarusian president admitted that he began to build relations with the United States to spite Russia.
“Finally the Americans noticed us. It turns out that Belarus is also important for them. The arrival of many Americans, and then the Secretary of State, to Belarus greatly excited our eastern neighbor. But we are a sovereign, independent state and have the right to carry out our own domestic and foreign policies,” Lukashenko boasted.
On June 12, it became known that the National Bank of Belarus decided to replace the managers of Belgazprombank. A day earlier, about 50 employees of the financial investigation department of the State Control Committee of Belarus (DFR KGC) conducted a search at the head office of Belgazprombank.
A criminal case has been initiated under articles relating to tax evasion and money laundering. 15 bank employees, including top management, were detained. According to investigators, funds were withdrawn from Belgazprombank through the Latvian bank ABLV.
According to the KGC, 18 countries are involved in the investigation of the Belgazprombank case, including the United States. Lukashenko’s most dangerous competitor in the upcoming presidential elections, Viktor Babariko, previously headed Belgazprombank for 20 years. He is now under arrest.
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