US behind Belarus protests via social media platforms: Lukashenko
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has accused the US of organizing the post-election protests in his country through social media platforms.
Lukashenko made the comment on Tuesday and said the Americans, acting through centers in Poland and the Czech Republic, were controlling social media channels — particularly the Russian-designed messaging app Telegram — that are playing a leading role in the unrest.
The Belarusian president also stated that the US interference was effectively a dry run for a future attempt to destabilize Russia.
“He believes that, first and foremost, the Americans are behind everything, acting through centers in Poland and the Czech Republic. But there are also internal reasons, he said. One reason is the fact that two new generations have grown up in Belarus, forming a small class of ‘young bourgeois’ who ‘want power,” Rossiya-1 TV reporter Yevgeny Rozkov revealed to news agency TASS after an interview with Lukashenko.
“And Telegram channels are playing a leading role there. And it was they who started the whole story, and did it long ago. Not Russia, not Belarus – it is they who have been doing it all the time. And now they have what they have. Whatever! And we are reaping the fruits of it,” Rozkov quoted Lukashenko as saying.
The 66-year-old Belarusian president officially won 80 percent of the vote in the August poll, but the opposition says the contest was rigged.
The opposition claim that opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya won the presidential election.
Tikhanovskaya left Belarus for Lithuania after the election, and from there she initiated the formation of a council for power transition.
Lukashenko has been in power Belarus since 1994 and claimed victory in the disputed August 9th presidential election.
The country has witnessed anti-government protests since then, with demonstrators saying the election was massively rigged, a charge that the government strongly denies.
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