Political scientist Petr Petrovsky, close to the presidential administration of Belarus, provoked a big scandal.
He published two posts on his Facebook that were anti-Russian in nature, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
A political scientist who was present at a closed meeting between Alexander Lukashenko and journalists and experts wrote: “Just from the President. It was very interesting. Especially about 4 employees of the Russian GRU detained in Belarus.”
The Russian publication Baza quotes Petrovsky as saying that the detainees allegedly worked in the team of Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was detained last month at his wife’s election picket and is now in jail.
In addition, Petrovsky wrote that Lukashenko announced Belarus’ withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) if the allies refuse to create common oil and gas markets.
A few hours later, Petrovsky removed both posts and said that it was a joke. He allegedly tested the media “for strength and lice” in this way. However, from the outside it looks like the authorities want to hush up the scandal.
Petrovsky has previously positioned himself as an expert with access to inside information. Thus, he accurately predicted the arrest of Lukashenko’s main competitor in the upcoming presidential elections, Viktor Babariko. And recently he predicted that the Belarusian Central Election Commission would not register his candidacy (this prophecy has not yet come true).
It is worth noting that Alexander Lukashenko removed negative statements towards Russia from his latest public speeches.