MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) – The Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) and the State Security Committee of Belarus (KGB) closely cooperate. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during a meeting with representatives of the general public, experts, and mass media titled as the Big Conversation with the President on 9 August, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The FSB and the KGB maintain tight contacts. We borrow a lot from you and you have learned something from us. We cooperate and learn. We have a lot of common tasks. We help each other. The FSB provides material resources to us. They never reject our requests. We certainly help out if we can and we indeed can. We share information with President Putin via a direct contact – from hands to hands. A person carries a letter and delivers it directly into their hands. This is why the FSB and Naryshkin's agency [the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation] tell me to my face about the high professionalism of our security agencies, not only the State Security Committee. And they are thankful for aid and support.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the FSB and the KGB cannot work alone in many areas.
He went on saying: “As for the State Security Committee, I've also talked about it. You know we didn't just miss some signs before the presidential election last year and even in 2019. We just didn't think they were significant. Why? Because we couldn't imagine such things would happen. There are no underlying reasons in Belarus for what happened in August 2020 to happen. There were truly none. But everything turned out to be so simple. And certainly brains affected by this pandemic were the basis. COVID-19 was the key reason for what happened. Closed borders and the rest. Some people lost jobs, particularly those who resold Belarusian fuel in Poland. There were a lot of those in Brest and Grodno. And there were many of those here, in Minsk. This is why I blame myself and the State Security Committee for it. We dropped the ball.”
At the same time Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled brilliant operations the KGB has carried out recently. Including the investigation into assaults on media persons in Belarus. “Let's talk about the action against a Russian military base. We tracked it from start to finish. And then we were wondering whether we should let them enter or not. In the end we decided to let them proceed. Now they cannot dodge prosecution. They demonstrate what they brought, what explosives, and what they wanted to blow up. Everyone was caught. And not somewhere far away but in the course of carrying out an act of terrorism. So well done, KGB. They can teach a thing or two,” he added.
