MINSK, November 13. /TASS/. The organizers of protest demonstrations in Belarus had hoped to plunge the country into chaos at least for a couple of days and then to request foreign military assistance, President Alexander Lukashenko told foreign media on Friday. Extracts from that interview were aired by the Belarusian TV broadcaster STV.
"Russia is well aware: the loss of Belarus is to be prevented by all means. The loss of Belarus would spell the disappearance of Ukraine. And intermediate and shorter range missiles planted near Smolensk by you know whom. Had their [protest organizers’] blitzkrieg succeeded on August 9 and 10, they would have grabbed power the way it happened in Armenia and Georgia. Then there would follow a message to the West. And the West would dispatch troops at the request of an ostensibly legitimate government. That’s the scenario they had in mind," Lukashenko said. "And are you going to say that Russia would be watching all this calmly?".