MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – At a large meeting of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko with the senior staff of the national security agencies in Minsk on 20 February, State Security Committee (KGB) Chairman Ivan Tertel named factors that can lead to threats to Belarus’ national security, BelTA has learned.
“In pursuance of the instructions of the head of state, the State Security Committee has developed and is actively implementing a set of measures to closely monitor the operational situation around and inside the Republic of Belarus,” noted Ivan Tertel. “Our goal is to detect alarming trends that can develop into real threats to national security, develop proposals for their neutralization.”
The KGB chief drew attention to “the increasing geopolitical tensions in the world that directly affect the security of our state.”
He also touched upon the situation in Ukraine: “The West is becoming more and more involved in hostilities. The intelligence services and defense ministries of the UK, the USA, France, Poland and other countries are no longer only supplying weapons to Ukraine, but are also directly involved in the planning and implementation of terrorist acts and acts of sabotage on the territory of Russia. They deliver perpetrators and means of terror in transit through Belarus.”
Ivan Tertel stated that, according to experts, the situation in the Middle East has a serious potential for escalating into a large-scale armed conflict. "In fact, the world has embarked on the path toward gradual formation of opposing coalitions, which is one of the conditions for the emergence of a global world conflict," he said.
Ivan Tertel referred to the assessments by Western strategists that "Belarus and its territory are of key importance in the future confrontation for dominance in the Eurasian region."
The KGB head also noted: "The West is consistently putting pressure on our country and is using a variety of tools for this purpose. First of all, these are illegal economic sanctions, attempts to tear us away from traditional markets, sever our cooperation ties with partners from the CIS countries, which should cause, and I quote, ‘hunger riots’ and create the conditions for a violent change of the constitutional order in Belarus."
The idea to restore the work of Western-controlled foundations, pseudo human rights organizations and NGOs in Belarus remains high on their agenda. Particular emphasis is placed on destructive work with young people.
"Increased attention is paid to the use of the so-called fifth column that operates in the form of separate structures of self-exiled opposition in Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. In fact, they have turned into centers of subversive activities against Belarus," Ivan Tertel noted.
