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Crisis in Belarus

Americans, ‘young bourgeois’ behind protests in Belarus, Lukashenko says

The Belarusian leader gave an interview to Russia's leading media outlets on Tuesday, September 8

© Tut.By via AP

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that protests in the republic have been organized by the US who, according to him, act through centers in Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as by a class of "young bourgeois" that emerged in Belarus, Russia's Rossiya-1 TV reporter Yevgeny Rozhkov cited the Belarus' leader as saying in his interview to Russia's leading media outlets.

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"We asked [the president of the country] who is interested in this [supporting the protest movement in Belarus], and what side he expected and expects the trouble to come from," Rozkov said. "He believes that, first and foremost, the Americans are behind everything, acting through centers in Poland and the Czech Republic. But there are also internal reasons, he said. One reason is the fact that two new generations have grown up in Belarus, forming a small class of ‘young bourgeois’, who ‘want power’."

Dwelling on the alleged US 'orchestrators' of the unrest, Alexander Lukashenko stated that they have Russia in mind. "We know who is behind all those Telegram channels [inciting protests - TASS]: they are the Americans. We all need to understand that this is not about Belarus. Their main goal is Russia," Editor-in-Chief of Govorit Moskva radio station Roman Babayan quoted Lukashenko as saying. Babayan was among the Russian reporters who interviewed Lukashenko earlier on Tuesday.

The presidential election in Belarus took place on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission, incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko won 80.10% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. Immediately after the results were announced, mass protests sparked across Belarus, causing clashes with the law enforcement during the first days. The Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council urges people to continue protesting, while the authorities demand that the unauthorized rallies stop. According to the Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council board member Pavel Latushko, over 10,000 people have been apprehended in Belarus since August 9.

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