Lukashenko claims West preparing coup in Belarus; 'Violent regime change being readied...'

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, June 1 claimed that the Western countries that are neighbouring Ukraine are preparing for a coup in Minsk. Belarusian security forces are prepared for the threat, the authoritarian leader noted, adding that his country's military will not let such a scenario materialise. Speaking at the meeting with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) security chiefs, Lukashenko made claims that a “violent regime change is being prepared," according to RT. 

"In Poland, Lithuania and, unfortunately, Ukraine, illegal members of armed groups are being trained," said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. 

'They won’t leave us alone': Lukashenko

The operatives of the West, said Lukashenko, are in the process of creating the “sleeping extremist cells” to topple the Belarusian regime. He stated that recently, as Belarus and Russian forces held a joint exercise, explosives were allegedly seized that were aimed at thwarting security. “This fact means that they won’t leave us alone,” the Belarusian leader noted. The latter continued that the Belarusian citizens are opposed to his government participating in the combat in Ukraine. And even then, the West is now strengthening the opposition "to engage in acts of armed violence and is funding such activities," Lukashenko was quoted as saying. 

Lukashenko warned other CIS member states of the threat of a coup and uprising, as he urged for strengthening security cooperation. In an interview with Poland’s Polsat TV channel, last month, the country's retired general Waldemar Skrzypczak called on Poland to get ready for an “uprising in Belarus,” adding that “it will happen.”

“We must be ready to support the troops that will carry out the operation against Lukashenko. We have reasons to help them, just as we help Ukraine,” the General, who was an ex-Poland’s deputy defence minister said in televised remarks. "Information about the preparation of a coup in Belarus by the West has been confirmed in Poland," reported the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Russia's President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov meanwhile stated that his country is committed to ensuring the security of Belarus, “which we will do in the face of such obvious threats.”