Lukashenko sees Moscow’s machinations everywhere
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, speaking on Friday to workers of the Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ), rudely criticized his most prominent competitors vying for participation in the presidential elections, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He accused the former chairman of the board of Belgazprombank, Viktor Babariko, of lying for saying that one of the participants in the race had offered him the post of prime minister. From the context it was clear that the proposal did not come from the current president, but Lukashenko understood differently.
“A banker made a statement somewhere, I saw on the Internet that they allegedly offered him something before the elections. So I must tell you sincerely and honestly, looking you in the eye: this banker should think about where he will work after the elections. Both you and I were taught from school: don’t lie. Why blurt this out? In Belarus, according to the Constitution, only one person can propose the position of prime minister and submit a candidate to parliament for approval. I didn't offer anything to anyone. Especially for him. What experience does he have to be prime minister?” - said Lukashenko.
He made it clear that he had no doubts about his own victory, promising to appoint an acting person, whom “we will approve in parliament” after the elections.
After this, the president returned to Babariko, accusing him of having connections with the Kremlin.
“Perhaps this person was offered the position of prime minister in another country. But I figured that Mishustin was recently appointed to one. They could have offered him something there. You know whose money he is running with. In Ukraine, Volodya Zelensky recently changed prime minister. In my opinion, this is a petty bluff and deception,” Lukashenko said.
He appointed blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky as another “agent of Moscow,” who himself was unable to register with the CEC, so he is now collecting signatures for his wife. The blogger does not hide the fact that he previously tried to do business in Moscow, although now he takes part in actions against integration with the Russian Federation.
“Today the press secretary put materials from Russia on my table. Allegedly, they are interviewing one mangy man, who can’t be called anything else, who walks and shouts around Minsk, and in other cities. We know whose cars he drives, who finances him, where he came from, what his citizenship is. We all know this.
Here Kommersant broke out with an article. We were in a hurry, really. They showed where the ears stick out. Even whole horns. We rushed to support. Naturally, the attack on Lukashenko is focused on the pandemic (that’s not how we treat it),” Lukashenko said.
Only the former director of the High Technology Park, Valery Tsepkalo, was not reproached by the president for his vicious ties with Russia. But he promised to publish domestic dirt on him.
“I practically don’t know the people who were nominated, with the exception of my former assistant. True, he is cunning and does not say why the president fired him. Let him tell you honestly. Then he won’t want to go to the polls. He won't tell honestly. We must, let's say. But we don’t want to deal with this compromising evidence,” Lukashenko said.
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