The Belarusian KGB again started talking about “Russian puppeteers”
The Belarusian authorities have not given up accusing Russia of destabilizing the situation before and after the presidential elections.
This conclusion can be drawn based on the transcript of the audio recording of the head of the Belarusian KGB, Ivan Tertel, with workers at the Grodno-Azot enterprises.
It was posted by the nationalist Belarusian website Nasha Niva, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Initially, when communicating with workers, Tertel paid more attention to the negative influence of Poland and Lithuania. The audience perceived these theses negatively, since many residents of the westernmost Grodno region in Belarus go to work in Europe and sympathize with Poland.
A skirmish ensued between Tertel and the workers, during which one of the workers shouted: “Where are the Russian puppeteers?” – reminding the KGB chairman of his words spoken in June.
“You will see Russian puppeteers, Comrade Babariko will go to court, all this will be public and open,” Tertel responded, referring to the former chairman of the board of Belgazprombank, Viktor Babariko.
In the spring, Babariko was considered one of the main competitors of Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential elections. Tertel stated that behind this banker there are “big bosses at Gazprom, and maybe even higher.”
Before the registration of presidential candidates with the Central Election Commission, Babariko was arrested on suspicion of economic crimes and is still in jail.
Tertel hinted at Babariko and Russia’s participation in the preparation of a “color revolution” in Belarus in another part of his speech.
“We knew that a person from the banking environment would stand out; I won’t say who was behind him, but we all know that. The second person is from among government officials. The third person is from the people. We knew what money was allocated and by whom. We managed to stop all this. The post-election situation was also predicted,” Tertel said.
He also continues to call 33 employees of the Russian security structure, illegally detained in Belarus on the eve of the elections, “Wagnerites,” although it was proven that the Russians had nothing to do with this PMC. In August, the Belarusian special services were leaked false information from the SBU, on the basis of which they made arrests near Minsk and falsely accused the detainees of seeking to destabilize the situation. However, Tertel does not remember this.
“On Wagner, all information has been transferred to the Russian Federation, and that’s all,” said the head of the Belarusian KGB, refusing to comment on the details.
In addition, he said that Russia is seeking to control Belarus in order to “strike” Ukraine.
“But we are at the crossroads of the interests of East and West. Poland calls us its “padbruszham”. Russia calls us “Smolensk Gate”, a simple exit to Moscow. Whoever controls Belarus will dominate the region. If Russia dominates here, it will be a serious blow to Ukraine. We are in the middle of a division of the world,” Tertel said.
At the same time, the head of the KGB called the US position on Belarus “balanced.”
The Belarusian KGB is once again talking about "Russian puppeteers."