MINSK, 26 April (BelTA) - The possible involvement of the United States in plotting a military coup in Belarus is being investigated, Director of the Russian Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov said on the air of the Rossiya-1 TV channel on 25 April, TASS reported.
Alexander Bortnikov stressed that the case files confirmed that this was an attempt to carry out a military coup. "This is confirmed by the unbiased and reliable data that we received after detaining individuals in Moscow. At the moment, an active work of investigative agencies in Belarus is underway," the FSB director said.
On 17 April Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko announced that opposition politician Grigory Kostusev, political analyst Aleksandr Feduta and lawyer Yuri Zenkovich had plotted an assassination attempt on him and his sons. According to chief of the Belarusian KGB Ivan Tertel, "the plotters planned a coup for this summer, June or July."
Later on, the Public Relations Center of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that FSB officers had foiled the unlawful activity of dual Belarusian-American citizen Yuri Zenkovich and Belarusian national Alexander Feduta in a special operation with the Belarusian KGB. According to the FSB, the persons in custody were plotting a military coup in Belarus via a "color revolution" scenario, involving local and Ukrainian nationalists, in addition to physically eliminating President Lukashenko.
According to Belarusian investigators, the attempt to carry out a coup d'etat was sponsored from overseas and the plotters maintained close ties with terror groups. At least three scenarios of seizing power were worked out.
