Roman Protasevich. An archive photo
LEPEL DISTRICT, 31 October (BelTA) – Roman Protasevich, who was considered an opposition member, is a Belarusian intelligence officer. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during a working trip to Vitebsk Oblast on 31 October, BelTA has learned.
Speaking about the situation involving the smuggling of cigarettes using weather balloons to Lithuania, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that opponents abroad are simply looking for a reason to try to humiliate the Belarusian government.
Continuing the line of thought, Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled when sanctions had been introduced against the Belarusian flag carrier Belavia. The detention of the opposition member Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend was mentioned as the reason. “I will not talk about it for a long time. Protasevich is an officer of our intelligence service. Did we need to detain him? But I wonder why the aircraft flying to Vilnius didn’t land there. It turned around, flew to Minsk, and landed after a phone call about some explosives planted on board… Well, feel free to land in Vilnius. You had been flying to Vilnius. You had been above Vilnius. Land! The aircraft turned around and flew to Minsk. It landed in Minsk. I authorized the operation. After all, he had been working undercover among the self-exiled opposition. Carry out the operation properly,” the president stated.
“We had to carry out an operation in order to detain him. Although we didn’t have to detain him. He had come to Greece. He had been summoned to Greece. He had told intelligence officers everything we were interested in. He got an assignment and was flying back. Back where he had been working, via Vilnius. We got accused of detaining an opposition member. But he is not our opposition member. We didn’t detain an opposition member. This is why they have enforced sanctions,” the head of state said.
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