ST. PETERSBURG, July 13. /TASS/. Belarus’ authorities will keep a close eye on non-government organizations (NGO) and Western mass media, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.
"We have begun active work concerning these non-government and non-profit organizations, the so-called Western media which claim to have brought us democracy, but which actually imposed this terror instead of democracy," Lukashenko said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"So if you see what is going on, and I am sure you are well-informed, you must understand that there is no other option for us because these 1,500 lousy non-government organizations — as many as 1,500 various funds and so on — it is clear what they did — they were funded from outside. We used to think: all right, democracy, let us speak with them, let us cooperate and well, we have received a corresponding result," he said.
Nevertheless, in his words, "it is not a catastrophe." "This terror and so on - we will cope with it. What matters most is the economy," he stressed. "If we're going to survive this economic shock together with Russia - they keep on extending and expanding anti-Russian sanctions — I think <…> we will survive."
According to the Belarusian leader, no one will be able "to monopolize the international agenda today." "They won’t be able to press Belarus. The world has changed, we are different and we must live on our own," he added.