Betrayal in the Belarusian army: A recording of the minister at a closed meeting was handed over to nationalist media
The nationalist Belarusian publication Nasha Niva published a transcript of the speech of the country's Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin to the leadership of the structural divisions of the ministry and the General Staff.
The audio recording was allegedly transferred to Nasha Niva by one of the meeting participants, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Those political strategists who write Tikhanovskaya’s texts pose the question: army, are you with the people? will you shoot against the people? We are called upon, including by Tikhanovskaya, who says, “Do not follow criminal orders.” This woman calls us to treason, breaking the law - not following orders. Until the army goes over to the side of the protesters, it is impossible to destroy the state. All hope is for you and me. We are not demoralized.
We must fight, if necessary, with weapons. For the country, for ourselves, for our families, for those teachers who are scared and afraid,” Khrenin said.
According to him, the officers began to receive threats.
“Some officers received threats. There was an incident in the air force, I forgot my last name, well, never mind. At the training camp I came: “I don’t want to serve, fire me.” It started as soon as his wife received a text message on her phone. He came and took the report. I said: such officers should be given a pistol. I never thought that it would come to this, that we would walk around with weapons in our hands. And most people are scared, the only hope is on us - we will defend,” the minister noted.
According to him, Belarus is rapidly moving towards civil war. He compared the army to a sentry guarding the state, and recalled that according to the regulations, the sentry is obliged to shoot if someone approaches a protected object.
“Maybe some people want this, so that later they can accuse us, me, of genocide against our own people, because when weapons are used, civilians die. Yes, this is all clear, yes, we may enter a civil war, the price of human life is losing value every day. It's horrible. It is possible that there may be a military conflict; today this is already a reality. Those who doubt it are better to leave now - on the command “stop, I’ll shoot.” And to leave while subsequent commands are being given - this would be treason, this is the most terrible human vice. When you look into the eyes, believe, and get stabbed in the back,” Khrenin concluded.
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