Lukashenka: I Didn’t Trust Utsiuryn, So Transferred Him To Security Council

The dictator commented on the arrest of the Undersecretary of State of the Security Council.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka, commented on the detention of the former Undersecretary of State of the Security Council, Andrei Utsiuryn when speaking to journalists during his visit to the Student Village, BelTA informs.

"If he had been above my suspicion, he would still work as head of the Security Service, – Aliaksandr Lukashenka said. – Even then I had certain suspicions. He was given a chance.”

The governor explained that Andrei Utsiuryn came in sight of law enforcement officers before being transferred to the Security Council.

“Literally after a few months, I was informed that there were issues about him,” – the dictator noted.

In April, Andrei Utsiuryn was arrested on suspicion of corruption. On April 24, Aliaksandr Lukashenka signed a decree that dismissed Andrei Utsiuryn from his position in the Security Council "for actions that discredit the rank and dignity of a military man." May 4, the State Security Committee informed that Andrei Utsiuryn was arrested when he was taking a bribe of 148.6 thousand dollars from a Russian company for helping to promote its interests in Belarus.

The former Undersecretary of State of the Security Council is charged under Part 3 of Article 430 (receiving a bribe) of the Criminal Code, the second person is charged with giving a bribe. Both defendants pleaded guilty in this episode in full, BelTA notes.

There were different versions of Andrei Utsiuryn's circulating – from his relations with the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Utsiuryn was born and studied in Russia, actively making friends with colleagues in the Moscow special services), to his conspiring with a group of five or six generals and colonels against Lukashenka, up to "physical elimination" of the dictator.

This arrest is notable for the fact that Utsiuryn entered Lukashenka's innermost circle and he was guarding him since 1995. He even raised the dictator's youngest son Mikalai, literally replacing his father.

Along with Utsiuryn, the KGB of Belarus arrested Siarhei Sivadzedau, the Director General of the state telecommunications monopolist, Beltelecom company, as well as his three employees.

All of them (including Utsiuryn) are charged with accepting bribes from Russian companies for a total of about $ 170,000. And unofficially they are considered to be guilty of putting the Belarusian channel to connect to the Internet under the control of the relevant Russian departments.

There some "leakages" appear, reporting that the FSB has established a whole system of wiretaps and monitoring of officials, military and politicians in Belarus.

Russian journalist Sergei Dorenko, the editor-in-chief of the Govorit Moskva radio station, reported, that, in addition to this, new arrests took place in Minsk: possibly, two more high-ranking representatives of power structures were detained – deputy head of Lukashenka's security service and Alpha group commander. Searches took place in the KGB and the Ministry of Defense.