MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – Police officers, who have helped prevent terrorist attacks, should be awarded. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during the government conference held on 29 March to discuss the social and political situation in the country, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that a number of foreign calls for radicalizing protests in Belarus have been heard recently. This is why he mentioned the work of the law enforcement officers, who had prevented such accidents. The president was particularly grateful to personnel of the Central Organized Crime and Corruption Office of the Internal Affairs Ministry.
The head of state said: “They did just great: they have solved another crime of terrorist nature. All the guys, who participated in this operation, should be awarded. They deserve it by protecting a huge number of people, who could have been hurt. It is a good lesson for us: for the people responsible for domestic security and for the people who take care of our country's defense.”
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with the newly appointed State Secretary of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Dmitry Mezentsev on 26 March. Among other things Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned that a terrorist attack had been prevented in Belarus. He noted that opposition leaders, who had fled abroad, had been preparing a provocation.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “It put me on alert, I have the experience. Since they talk about it, we have to be vigilant. And what do you know? Police did well. Karpenkov's former branch [Deputy Internal Affairs Minister, Chief of the Interior Troops Nikolai Karpenkov was the chief of the Central Organized Crime and Corruption Office of the Internal Affairs Ministry till 19 November 2020] detected the scumbag! He placed explosives inside a trash container. The explosion would have delivered a devastating impact due to metal or concrete [shrapnel]. He had been detected in advance and had been under surveillance. He placed the explosive and bomb specialists defused it after that. Later on he went to an army facility where he was apprehended and handed over to the State Security Committee.”
“Terror! Imagine how many people would have been killed and injured as a result of the explosion…” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
Later on Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Gennady Kazakevich told media that officers of the Central Organized Crime and Corruption Office of the Internal Affairs Ministry with assistance of a SWAT team had apprehended a 35-year-old man in the military base Pechi, Borisov District, Minsk Oblast. He is a resident of Pinsk District, Brest Oblast and intended to commit a terrorist attack in a local military facility and another one in Minsk.
Gennady Kazakevich said: “According to the Central Organized Crime and Corruption Office of the Internal Affairs Ministry, the suspect rented an apartment in Minsk's Moskovsky District and worked in a private company. He made two improvised explosive devices in Pinsk District and Minsk. He placed one of them inside a trash container near a children's playground in Uborevicha Street, Minsk and transported the other one by car to Borisov District. He was caught as he was committing the crime.”
Investigators of the State Security Committee have opened a criminal case on charges of an attempt to commit an act of terrorism.
The criminal is believed to have close links to the BYPOL initiative [an antigovernment organization made up of former Belarusian law enforcement officers]. The day before the Freedom Day the criminal was instructed by a BYPOL representative to arrange an explosion inside a police station or a military facility. “This initiative is closely connected to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's so-called coordination council and actively encouraged citizens to stage illegal mass events on 25 March. The BYPOL initiative also warned that the government had been allegedly preparing a provocation. Preparations for terrorist attacks under the aegis of the BYPOL initiative had been going on instead,” Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Gennady Kazakevich noted.
