MINSK, 29 May (BelTA) – While talking to workers of the tractor factory MTZ on 29 May Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke at length about his possible sympathy towards potential presidential candidates, BelTA has learned.
The head of state noted that he knows little about the people seeking nomination as presidential candidates for now. “Except for my former aide. Truth to tell, he is a sly one. He doesn't say why the president fired him. Feel free to ask him that. May he give you an honest answer. He would not want to run for the presidency then. But he won't speak honestly. If we have to, we will tell but we don't want to indulge in smear campaigns,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president spoke about how potential female candidates collect signatures: “They calmly and quietly collect these signatures. I wondered lately and it turns out that these women have gathered more signatures than all the men seeking publicity on the Internet.”
“The men were in uproar, with someone walking and shouting. The press secretary told me lately that one of them [a picketer] insulted a police officer after the officer made a remark about him. They try to look like tough guys, everyone drives cool cars, 10-12 cars. They would come to someone else's city, form ranks, and roam squares and streets…” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.
“They ganged up on this poor kid [the police officer]. He may have joined the force only this year, it is someone's child. Don't you gang up on him. And then, they are risky men. I wouldn't be so bold with police in their place. Policemen are united. If they find a way, they will respond in kind. I am having a hard time restraining them. Those men seek trouble. Provocation is the best kind of advertising. This is how they see it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Apart from that, Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about an article published by the Russian newspaper Kommersant. “It looks like an independent Russian newspaper. But we know who finances it…. They take an interview from some mangy person, there is no other term for it, who walks here and shouts, mostly in Minsk but in other cities as well. But we know whose cars he drives and who finances him. We know where he came from, what his citizenship is, and the rest… We know all of that. I am looking into it already. I am getting reports. Our people have already seen it,” the president noted.
“I am looking at this article. I see whose ears are behind it. He is not even a presidential candidate, he roots for his wife. He understands that nobody in Belarus will vote for the wife. I often say that Natalya Ivanovna [Kochanova, Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus] will not win an election either although she is a hard-boiled, ready president already. Our Constitution is not suitable for a woman. Our society is not ready to vote for a woman. Because the Constitution gives strong authority to the president,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Our president is nothing like the president in Lithuania. Dalia Grybauskaite was the president over there. She came, smiled, sat a bit and went away. She was not responsible for anything because it is a parliamentary republic over there. Belarus is not. I am absolutely convinced a man will be the next president.”
“So the Kommersant published an article. They rushed it a bit though. They showed ears behind the article. Even horns. They rushed to offer their backing. Naturally by slamming Lukashenko and focusing on the pandemic, saying we don't treat people right,” the Belarusian leader added.
