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Lukashenko slams Polish-Lithuanian-run emigre centers for ‘fomenting’ tensions in Belarus

Belarusian president emphasized that in a situation like this the state security committee KGB was tasked to maintain social and political stability and to protect the country from destructive foreign influences

MINSK, October 18. /TASS/.  Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has blasted Poland and Lithuanian for running emigrant centers that instigate Belarusian radicals to intimidate government leaders in Belarus. 

“Political emigrant centers established under the control of intelligence organizations in Warsaw and Vilnius foment radicals to carry out acts of intimidation against public and government leaders, as well as members of the media and law enforcement. Even the judicial corps has been targeted,” the BelTA news agency quoted the Belarusian leader as saying, during a review on human resources.

The presidential press service quotes Lukashenko as saying that "foreign secret services and their creatures locally and members of the Belarusian opposition abroad have been trying to shake loose the situation in the country, probing into the morale of labor staffs and trying to instigate strikes."

Lukashenko stressed that in a situation like this the state security committee KGB was tasked to maintain social and political stability and to protect the country from destructive foreign influences.

"Your paramount task is to step up efforts to resist terrorism, extremism and anti-constitutional actions. It is of fundamental importance to keep an eye on the situation in labor staffs and bodies of power," Lukashenko said.

He stressed that although the situation in the country had returned to stability, it would be wrong to lose vigilance.

"I am certain that you are capable of coping with the tasks set and the newly-appointed officials will prove this," he told the officers and generals present at the meeting.

Belarus on August 9, 2020, held a presidential election, in which according to official Central Election Commission statistics, Lukashenko emerged as the winner. The runner-up, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, refused to recognize the returns. She left the country just as a number of other opposition activists. When the results of the voting were announced, mass protest actions followed. During the first days of unrest there were clashes with police. The Belarusian KGB said in February that the situation in the country had regained stability, the peak of demonstrations was over and the protests in fact died down. In Belarus, a number of opposition leaders and activists face criminal prosecution on various charges, including calls for the seizure of power, creation of extremist groups, plots for the unconstitutional seizure of power and attempted acts of terrorism.