Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently Chairman of Russia’s State Security Council, has commented on the current campaigning in Belarus, calling it ‘the country’s domestic affair’.
At the same time, there is an important detail in his statement.
“At the same time, we cannot help but note that Minsk-Moscow relations, as well as the Union State issue, have become a small bargaining chip during the election campaign in Belarus,” state-run news agency RIA Novosti quotes him.
Later, a continuation of the quote appeared on Telegram. According to Medvedev, the present-day events in Belarus is part of a ‘simple political technology’.
“[I am talking about} setting up the spectre of an enemy and using it in order to achieve a political goal. And everything else can go to hell. ‘It is no odds, we’ll sort the things out with these Russians,’ [they might think]. But such actions will lead to grave consequences,” the top Russian official warned.
On July 29, 33 members of Russian private military company Wagner who were staying in the Belarusachka health centre in Minsk district were detained on suspicion of making preparations for mass riots. The Belarusian investigators trace the connection between the arrival of the Russian militants and imprisoned blogger Syarhei Tsikhanouski’s activity. On the same day, Andrey Raukou, Secretary of the Security Council, stated that more than 200 militants had come to Belarus to ‘destabilise the situation during the election campaign’.
In turn, the Kremlin called the Belarusian side’s version ‘odious’ and ‘not standing up to any criticism’.
In early August, president Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated that the detainees were ‘guilty, but not to the extent that harsh measures should be taken against them’. It is unknown where the militants are now being held; they are reported to have been transferred to one of the penitentiary facilities near Minsk.
