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Assassination plot in Belarus won’t affect integration with Russia, assures Kremlin

The Kremlin spokesman doesn't think these things are interrelated

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. The Kremlin believes that the situation surrounding the conspiracy to assassinate Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and pull off a coup d’etat can’t affect integration with Russia.

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"I don’t think these things are interrelated," Peskov told reporters on Thursday, commenting on whether the situation in Belarus could influence the pace of integration between Moscow and Minsk, and if the two countries needed closer ties in order to avoid such threats.

According to Peskov, the integration processes in the framework of the Union State are one thing, while external threats and never-ending meddling attempts in the domestic affairs of both countries (Russia and Belarus - TASS) are a completely different reality." "This is the reality that we will have to face for years to come," he noted. "And we should be accustomed for this."

Meanwhile, cooperation and jointly countering external threats "are very important in the interests of the two countries’ peoples," Peskov said.

Situation in Belarus

Belarusian President Lukashenko announced on April 17 that opposition politician Grigory Kostusev, political analyst Alexander Feduta and lawyer Yuri Zenkovich had plotted an assassination attempt on him and his sons. He placed responsibility for the plot on US special services and US leaders. According to Chief of the Belarusian KGB Ivan Tertel, "the plotters planned a coup for this summer, June or July."

Later on, the Public Relations Center of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that FSB officers had foiled the unlawful activity of dual Belarusian-American citizen Yuri Zenkovich and Belarusian national Alexander Feduta in a special operation with the republic’s KGB. According to the FSB, the persons in custody were plotting a military coup in Belarus via a "color revolution" scenario, involving local and Ukrainian nationalists, in addition to physically eliminating President Lukashenko.

According to Belarusian investigators, the attempt to carry out a coup d’etat was sponsored from overseas and the plotters maintained close ties with terror groups. At least three scenarios of seizing power were worked out.

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