Belarusian President Lukashenko accuses ‘Russian puppeteers’ of election meddling
In the run-up to the presidential elections, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko again came down with criticism on his rivals. The politician believes that Russia and Poland might be helping a number of candidates, BelTA reports.
"The most modern fake propaganda technologies are being used, there is interference from abroad in our elections, internal affairs," the President said, noting that the oppositionists who put forward demands for fair elections are dishonest.
"Are they pushing us to be dishonest the way they behave? It is clear that the puppeteers are behind them. They are on the one side and on the other. They live in Poland and infiltrate from Russia."
Lukashenko promised that he would "talk about it" with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near future." "But this situation is very complicated," the Belarusian President said.
He complained about "creepy fakes" circulating on the Internet by "Babichev’s structures " and "low lives" from Russia" in order to denigrate him. "Today I was informed (although it was a long time ago, no one reported) that one of my sons in Switzerland has $840 million," Lukashenko said, suggesting that these detractors "send a letter there (to Switzerland) through diplomatic channels, and who wants to take the money, let him take it away immediately."
The President noted that it is difficult for a small peace-loving Belarus to resist the flow of false information, and to "threaten someone about it" because it is "not a nuclear power". "We can't take a nuclear warhead, swing it and shout, or talk about hypersonic weapons that we're going to use as an answer," the president explained.
Lukashenko visited the Victory Parade in Moscow, and the media reported that he allegedly flew to Minsk as soon as the parade ended. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied this.
He later responded to Lukashenko's words about "interference." "It can be answered unequivocally that the Russian Federation has never interfered, does not interfere and is not going to interfere in any electoral processes, especially those that are taking place in our ally Belarus," Interfax quoted the Russian president's spokesman as saying.
The Belarusian presidential elections will be held on August 9. Lukashenko has been in power since 1994.