MINSK, November 20. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that the foreign intelligence services of Belarus and Russia disclosed the centers of the US intelligence agencies operating outside Warsaw and Kiev, the Belarusian news agency BelTA reported on Friday.
"The United States set up a center outside Warsaw and now has been creating another outside Kiev. Well, if it was only me saying that, but we alongside the Russians - both our and the Russians’ counterintelligence - have worked and spotted those centers. Not a single Polish is there. It is just an area. There are Americans there - intelligent, talented and capable people," Lukashenko said visiting Gomselmash, the company producing agricultural machinery and equipment.
The Belarusian president added that using the Internet and cutting-edge technology, the US agents "rock the entire planet."
"Well, did you create, did you rock, did you interfere in foreign elections? Then get it yourselves. You know Belarus sticks in their craw and should be crushed. But no way!" he said.
Lukashenko has made numerous statements that "Western puppeteers" are behind the mass protests that have been rocking Belarus since the presidential election in August.
Nationwide demonstrations have engulfed Belarus following the August 9 presidential election. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome and left the country.
After the results of the exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. During the early post-election period, the rallies snowballed into fierce clashes between the protesters and police. The current unrest is being cheered on by the opposition’s Coordination Council, which has been beating the drum for more protests. In response, the Belarusian authorities have castigated the ongoing turmoil and demanded that these unauthorized demonstrations be stopped.