Lukashenka: Force acting in the interests of America and West exists in Russia

In an interview to “Zavtra” newspaper the dictator has stated that the abducted opposition leaders are assassinated indeed.

The Russian newspaper “Zavtra” has published an interview , given by Alyaksandr Lukashenka to Russian media last week. The editor-in-chief Alexander Prokhanov published Lukashenka’s answers uncensored, without and abridgement, unlike “Sovetskaya Belorussiya” and “Izvestiya”, where the interview was published earlier.

About “backstabbing” by Russian authorities and his participation in Georgian events

- Some of your politicians are characterized by unfaithfulness, a readiness to betray. I could tell you how you have let down Georgians with pro-Russian sentiments during the presidential election in Georgia, and how I was implicated in this affair, how wedge was driven between the nations of Georgia, Ukraine and Russia by their actions. Saakashvili, Yushchenko, Lukashenka will go, and nations are to remain. It was also said in newspapers that by keeping away Lukashenka, Russia can have politicians like Yushchenko and Saakashvili in Belarus after Lukashenka’s resignation. It should be admitted that the Eastern Partnership worries the leadership of Russia seriously. We discussed this issue with Dzmitry Medvedev many times.

I think people in your country do not understand what the “Eastern Partnership” means, and consider it to be anti-Russian initiative of the West. Maybe there was such intention in that. But I must tell you, today we have trade with the EU, and our turnover is 47% with external surplus. We have adverse trade balance with Russia, as you are forcing us out from your market, and we have positive balance with Europe. Do you want to say that I should neglect this half of the trade turnover? The Eastern Partnership promises “free trade zone” in the future, and it’s a huge advantage for us. We are to receive a possibility to take loans in banks in which you are taking loans. And we have already received a loan from the IMF, which is several times more beneficial than the loan of our brotherly Russia.

You have promised us 2 billion dollars for stabilization of our currency. First we were given a billion, unwillingly, as we were beggars entreating for it. Medvedev says: we will help you again. Putin said: no, it’s too hard for us. We were going to them, begging, and they gave us 500 millions more. Now you do not agree to give us the rest 500 million. And we have made it a part of the budget, we hoped for them. “No, we won’t give it”. Well, we went to Chinese. They give us 3 billion dollars. But returning to the Eastern Partnership. Solana visited me here, and we discussed this topic. I asked him: “Well, are you going to substitute Russia for us?” He said: “No”. “And you are right, we are one nation with Russia, we think the way Russians think, and we live the way they live. We have the same values. We are Orthodox people. We have one history”.

Solana understood me, he asked forgiveness for some things, and a year has passed since our talk, and he hasn’t deceived me, he does not allow himself inappropriate interpretations. Though they interact with our oppositionists, help them, want to place them into power after me, and we are fighting this in a civilized way. We cannot allow everything to collapse like in Russia. We are living in pincers: democrats in the West and democrats in Russia mean the end to Belarusians.

About psychological incompatibility of leaders

- Who needs such a ‘union state’? You have said: some kind of worm is sitting inside the “union state” that eats away the idea itself. Besides, we have different elites: oligarchic, even comprador elite in Russia, and the state one in our country. We have different types of economies – you have oligarchic-market one, and we the state one. Psychological incompatibility of leaders is possible too. And the forth factor. An influential “third power” exists in Russia, it deliberately interferes with creation of the “union state”. They are acting in the interests of the US and the West in general , and constantly driving wedges [between us] in economic, political and psychological spheres of interaction.

Opposition leaders were killed indeed

- There many reasons hindering our union, political, psychological and social ones. But all this is dished under the dressing of the alleged lack of democracy in Belarus; that Lukashenka is a dictator, and people are disappearing without traces in Belarus. Three persons have perished, and mass media are still repeating this. Lukashenka has killed them as opponents of the regime. In fact, in two cases these were murders for commercial reasons, they had promised to buy or to sell something and failed to stick to their promises, so they were killed, as it is usual in half-bandit circles. Traces of a murderer have been recently found in Germany. Or Zmitser Zavadsky from the First Channel. How could he be an opponent to me, he is a person with a secondary education.

Why should I have killed him? Do you want to know the truth about that? There was a para-military group in Belarus, it was headed by some person Ihnatovich. They were well-trained guys from the task forces (spetsnaz) of the USSR. They went to Chechnya during the war and were fighting on the side of Moscow. They were climbing mountains, waiting in ambush, browbeating separatists. It was a very strong support group. They fought and returned home. Sharamet and Zavadsky came to them to make an item for Russian TV. It was said in the item that these Belarusian citizens are fighting on the side of Chechen separatists against federal troops. An interview of Ihnatovich was taken, and then they said he was fighting against Russians. Sharamet managed to wiggle out of the situation, while Zavadsky was caught. First some man-to-man showdown started: “Why have you said lies about us?” And they killed Zavadsky. Ihnatovich was sentenced to life and stays in our colony. The cameraman was killed, and this provocateur Sharamet is sitting in Moscow and writing all sort of nasty things bout Belarus.

Armed supporters of Lukashenka offered to disband parliament by force

I was terse promised nothing and said the first year would be difficult. Empty shelves, everything is swept away, the state treasury is empty. Empty bags in the National bank. It was an awful situation. Those who won with me, were frightened and ran away, only three persons were left with me. There was no bread, it was a verge of hunger. But I stabilized the country. My oponents held strikes in the parliament, they were lying on tribunes, hindered our work, and I was driving them to their wives in the night.

And enemies were pushing me to start this shooting. In the night on the eve of the referendum (in 1996) which extended my power, opponents gathered in the Constitutional court and wanted to adopt a decision against me. My armed supporters came to me and said: “Mr Lukashenka, you should dare, we should disperse this nest of wasps. If they adopt a decision in the Constitutional Court, nobody knows whether power ministries would support you”. I said: “No, they won’t adopt this decision. And if we come to disband them with arms, it would be a reason to blame us. Let’s hope that everything would turn out well”. In the morning there was the referendum, we were sitting in my office in the night, my friends with pistols, and waiting. I still scorn their pistols and them.

Russia’s man in “Eastern Partnership”

- And once again about the Eastern Partnership. Is t bad that your ally, your man appears in the Western camp?

Your leaders say that Belarus should become a part of Russia, and lose its sovereignty. But shouldn’t we, politicians, figure out in advance all the consequences of that?

Imagine I have taken such a decision. What’s tomorrow? Even now, after the conflict in the Caucasus, Russia is “bombarded” for having suppressed, subdued in an imperial way, with arms… And wouldn’t criticism be stronger in our case? The Russian president agrees: “Yes, you are absolutely right… It is absolutely detrimental for Russia.” On the other hand, our “frostbitten heads”, though there may be not many of them, 2, or say, 3%, but they are the most active and ambitious, far most crazy in any society. They are ready to launch “a war of national liberation”. They need a pretext. Now everybody is laughing at it. And you think they do not have with what to fight, don’t you? The next day they would be delivered that from Ukraine, the Baltic States, they mostly get everything from there, and they have channels from Poland. Arms and blasts will start immediately, they will destabilize the situation, and many people in the society would think: they are fighting for independence, for freedom. Do you want one more Chechnya here? I do not want it. That’s the end for Lukashenka and everything he has done here. A question suggests itself, Alexander, why such rude methods are needed? You are a supporter of the empire. But the empire could be built on new foundations. Take our Union agreement – these are principles of a new-type empire. Putin opposes to me: “Do you know what we would have in Russia? Tatarstan, Bashkortostan?” I say: “Do not ask such questions to me. I will grapple with the situation here in Belarus, and you are to cope with the situation in Russia”.

NOTE BY CHARTER’97:

It should be reminded that in 1999–2000, Viktar Hanchar, first vice speaker of the 13th Supreme Council of Belarus and head of the Central Electoral Commission; businessman and public figure Anatol Krasouski; former interior minister and opposition politician Yury Zakharanka; ORT TV channel cameraman Zmitser Zavadski disappeared in Belarus. Nothing is known about the fate of these people.

The international community calls to find out further fate of the disappeared Belarusian oppositionists. Resolutions of UN Human Rights Commission, Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE urge to reveal the truth about the disappearances.

A number of Belarusian high-ranking officials, in particular the former minister of internal affaires Uladzimir Navumau, former head of the president’s administration Viktar Sheiman, former minister of internal affaires Yury Sivakou, and former commander of special task squad Dzmitry Paulichenka are banned from entry into the EU countries and the US, because they are suspected of involvement in kidnapping of the oppositionists.

Lukashenka calls Valery Ihnatovich (Ignatovich) and his band “well-trained guys from the task forces (spetsnaz) of the USSR.” In reality, Ihnatovich was an officer of “Almaz” special unit of the Belarusian Interior Ministry. Ihnatovich’s group included several more acting and retired officers of “Almaz” and other special troops.