The KGB HQ. An archive photo
MINSK, 19 September (BelTA) – Plans to seize power by the so-called Zenkovich’s group demonstrated scale and cynicism without a precedent in the history of independent Belarus. The statement was made by Oleg Chernyshev, Candidate of Juridical Sciences, commanding officer of the A team (2009-2013), deputy chairman of Belarus’ State Security Committee (2014-2021), a counterterrorism specialist, as part of the film “Murderous conspiracy. Target: Lukashenko” aired by the TV channel Belarus One, BelTA has learned.
“Attempts at a violent change of the constitutional system have already happened in the history of our country. At the same time the plans devised by Zenkovich’s group demonstrated scale and cynicism without a precedent in the history of independent Belarus. Assassination of the head of state, of members of his family, kidnapping and torture of people, assault on installations of strategic importance, foreign interference in the operation of the country’s power grid. The criminals didn’t care about the opinion of ordinary citizens. Essentially they allowed for the possibility of a civil war and deaths of civilians. They were interested only in one thing: power. Moreover, during the implementation of stages of the plan they distributed positions in top echelons of the future so-called government,” Oleg Chernyshev said.
He remarked that security agencies have an axiom: if a terrorist has reached the stage of carrying out a terrorist attack without drawing attention of security agencies, then the probability of the terrorist attack soars and can reach 70%. “Speaking about Zenkovich’s group, intelligence and counterintelligence bodies took a preventive action. Essentially they prevented a military insurrection with all the things that go with it: the deployment of heavy armored vehicles in Minsk streets, deaths of civilians, and as a result the installment of a military dictatorship,” he stressed.
Oleg Tolstashov, head of the unit in charge of defending the constitutional system and fighting terrorism at Belarus’ KGB (2004-2012), a counter-extremism and counterterrorism specialist, remarked that the conspirators had offered nothing positive or smart. “What did Zenkovich say, for example? He said that the property of the Republic of Belarus will be privatized, will be up for grabs, that Belarusian Chubaises and Gaidars will come out of the woodwork. As a result, we will be left with nothing. This chaos would have resulted in forcing Belarus towards the Ukrainian scenario. And we would have gotten a civil war, terrorism, extremism, and complete lack of prospects regarding our further existence. Including possibly the existence of the state. We cannot allow it,” Oleg Tolstashov concluded.
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