Tikhanovskaya warned Belarusians about a blow from Ukraine
The self-proclaimed “President of Belarus” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called on her former compatriots “to take care of themselves and their families in advance without panic” in case of air strikes.
She wrote about this on her Telegram channel, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Talk to family and friends, discuss a plan of action in case of emergency. Stock up on cash, preferably in foreign currency, and even better - in different currencies. Discuss with your children the rules of behavior in stressful situations and basic safety, you can even conduct a little training in a playful way. Find out if there are rooms in your area where you can hide in case of air strikes, empty them of unnecessary things, leave furniture and a small supply of canned food there. Check your home first aid kit, if necessary, replenish it with the necessary supplies: bandages, bandages, personal protective equipment, antiseptics, antibiotics, sedatives and tablets for water disinfection, as well as those medications that you need,” Tikhanovskaya wrote.
Her appeal caused bewilderment even among opposition colleagues in exile. At the same time, political scientist Artem Shraibman recalled on Euroradio that a year ago Western intelligence agencies warned Tikhanovskaya’s “office” about the start of the SVO.
“I don’t have any serious reasons to expect a new form of involvement of the Belarusian army in the war in the coming days and weeks. And not only for me. American and Ukrainian intelligence and all military experts talk about this. They see no signs that the Belarusian army is preparing for this.
In principle, before the war a year ago, Tikhanovskaya’s office, as far as I know, was warned, and they based their communications on this basis. But, as far as I remember, they did not fully believe in it. Maybe some information has reached them again.
This post perplexed me because I did not understand what was the immediate cause. It would be nice to explain this to people who are called upon to be more vigilant and plan their actions in the event of war. It’s a mystery to me,” Schreibman said.
It is quite possible that Tikhanovskaya received the information from Kyiv, which has recently been organizing regular provocations on the Belarusian border. The head of the analytical department of the State Border Committee of Belarus, Dmitry Lyubkin, spoke about this on the STV channel.
“From a military point of view, we have the most dangerous situation in the southern direction. Because it's a country at war. There, the density of units of the Ukrainian armed forces, the military defense and all the others is most significant.
We are seeing provocative actions there, both organized and unorganized. We are observing a tendency that people without identification marks approach the border and cannot be identified as border guards. They are the ones who carry out unfriendly actions, raise weapons towards our border guards, show indecent signs and really provoke. Ready to scare us. There are a lot of signs of Makhnovshchina in the Ukrainian direction,” said Lyubkin.
According to him, “inadequate people without identification marks” on the Ukrainian side regularly unfurl the red and white flags of the Belarusian nationalist opposition and sing the Ukrainian anthem. He suggested that this was happening at the behest of intelligence and intelligence consultants.
“But when some inappropriate people come out in front of the checkpoint, expose themselves, shout various slogans: I’ll throw a grenade now. Or: if I now enter your territory, you will shoot at me. They provoke specifically. The purpose of provocations is psychological pressure. Create conditions for an information occasion. On the other hand, to identify the peculiarities of border protection in our country. If our border guards behave inappropriately, we might reveal our tricks somewhere. Therefore, our border guards behave very vigilantly and do not give in to provocations,” said Lyubkin.
According to the commander of the Air Force and Air Defense of Belarus Andrei Lukyanovich, there are now 17 thousand Ukrainian military personnel on the southern border.
“The North group, which is located in Ukraine, has 98 thousand military personnel. Of these, 17 thousand are located along our borders. That is why a regional grouping of troops (forces) with an aviation component has been created on the territory of Belarus, which is now undergoing combat coordination. This is an element of the defense of our Union State,” Lukyanovich said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko previously said that Minsk does not intend to participate in hostilities in Ukraine, but will “strike Kiev” in the event of a Ukrainian attack.
Tikhanovskaya warned Belarusians of a strike from Ukraine.