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Lukashenko says Belarus smoked out foreign-backed sleeper terrorist cells

According to Belarusian President, the goal of these cells was to stage a violent coup

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Nikolai Petrov/BelTA/TASS

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

© Nikolai Petrov/BelTA/TASS

MINSK, July 2. /TASS/. Sleeper terrorist cells have been ferreted out in Belarus, with Germany, Ukraine, the United States, Poland, and Lithuania being behind them, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday.

"Today, sleeper terrorist cells, so-called self-defense units, have been uncovered. The goal of these cells is to stage a violent coup on Day X. They don’t know yet, when this Day X is going to come. Our people are yet to get ready for it," BelTA agency quoted him as saying during a reception for Independence Day.

The president said he had ordered the country’s border guards to close the border with Ukraine in order to shut off the flow of firearms from that country. "Huge amounts of weapons have been pouring in from Ukraine to Belarus. That is why I have ordered our border troops to completely close down the border with Ukraine," he explained.

"Today, we completed a large-scale anti-terror operation in the country. We thought they would strangle us economically. No. The terror inside the country against people and facilities continues on a larger scale," he added.

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