MINSK, December 9. /TASS/. This year, Belarusian security agencies thwarted 10 terror attack attempts by the Belarusian opposition, which enjoy support from abroad, President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday.
"This year, there were 10 attempted terror attacks against people, factories and military facilities by our fugitive [oppositionists], who are today sheltered by Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine," the head of state said in an interview for Turkey’s TRT, partially published by BelTA.
Earlier, the State Security Committee of Belarus (KGB) stated that terror attacks were being prepared in the country against state facilities and a number of officials, including "with a risk of death of a large number of people." The terror threat originated from the neighboring states’ territory, including "certain terror groups with members located in the Western Europe, Poland and Ukraine."
In July, Lukashenko announced that a major counter-terrorism operation wrapped up in Belarus. According to the president, the events that followed the August 9, 2020, presidential elections "revealed ulcers and tumors in the society that the authorities had to remove." In particular, Lukashenko disclosed that sleeping terror cells - the so-called self-defense squads - were discovered in the republic, and that they planned to blow up the Russian Navy communication facility in the city of Vileyka.