MINSK, June 25. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko disclosed that he intends to discuss foreign meddling in the Belarusian presidential elections with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
While making appointments Thursday, the Belarusian leader noted that the opposition demands fair and proper elections, while behaving unfairly themselves, adding that "there are puppeteers behind them."
"There are [puppeteers] from both sides. They live in Poland and they also toss stuff from Russia. We will talks with President Putin about it during our meeting shortly, but this situation is very complicated. The newest false technologies are in use, there is foreign meddling in our elections, our internal affairs," Lukashenko said.
Commenting on Lukashenko’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov underscored that "Russia has never meddled, does not meddle and does not intend to plan in anyone’s electoral processes."
"Even more so in electoral processes of our ally, Belarus," he added.
Spread of fake news
Speaking about the situation in the country, Lukashenko noted that there are "horrible fake news" being spread across the Internet, which some seek to use to discredit the authorities, including one regarding a $840 million Swiss bank account of one of Lukashenko’s sons.
"Send a letter there via diplomatic channels: whoever wants to withdraw this money, let them do it immediately," the President quipped.
He also noted that there is blatantly false information out there, and people that do not understand banking documents believe those fakes.
"There will always be this kind of fakes. We must take this into account, learn to live with it and to fight it. By the way, this is being thrown in by various structures from Russia […]," he underscored. "This is not our stuff, this information comes from Russia. They will apologize later, will take it down, but it is already in people’s brains."
Lukashenko also commented on the Internet reports alleging that some people desired to quit his security service.
"About the servicemen; they say, someone left and took their ID with them, and now they say they are against the authorities," Lukashenko said. "It is impossible for a person to resign from the security service and keep the ID for even one hour. First, the serviceman hands over their weapon, their ID, and then he get the final clearance list."
These fakes are something that needs to be lived with, the president said.
"But we must keep our head on our shoulders and keep explaining what is going on," the president said.
The presidential elections in Belarus are scheduled to August 9. Collection of signatures for registration of candidates, initially performed by 15 initiative groups, is over; 7 candidates submitted their signatures for checking by the electoral commission. The candidates will be registered between July 5 and 14.