English

Government-controlled newspaper accuses EU countries of plotting Lukashenka's overthrow

The government-controlled newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya on Friday published what it called "previously classified" documents containing discrediting information about Alyaksandr Lukashenka's opponents and their ties with foreign governments, as well as accusing European Union countries of plotting to overthrow Belarus' government, BelaPAN said.

Opening the five-page unbylined article, the paper said that the documents had been provided by law enforcement agencies on the instructions of Mr. Lukashenka.

The piece included a compilation of what is described as documents related to the "Tell the Truth!" campaign and fragments of conversations involving prominent opposition figures and NGO activists.

According to the article, the "Tell the Truth!" campaign, which was led by former presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, received financial support from the West.

The paper reported with reference to Mr. Nyaklyayew's aide Alyaksandr Fyaduta that Syarhey Haydukevich, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, had offered assistance to the "Tell the Truth!" campaign and expressed readiness to drop his presidential bid and publicly support Mr. Nyaklyayew in exchange for $1 million.

The paper also mentioned the late journalist Aleh Byabenin, who it said arranged foreign funding for www.charter97.org, a popular opposition news site. In particular, he was reported to have received $211,000 from Catherine Fitzpatrick of the "US Helsinki Group" and €6,000 from the "Frontline international fund."

Mr. Byabenin was found hanged in September last year in his summer house in the village of Pyarkhurava in the Dzyarzhynsk district near Minsk. Police said that the journalist committed suicide, but his associates insisted that he had no reason to kill himself and described the circumstances of the incident as suspicious.

Sovetskaya Belorussiya also claimed that the United Civic Party's presidential nominee Yaraslaw Ramanchuk had been provided with $150,000 to $200,000 for "carrying out local events" and later traveled to Germany and the United States to secure more financial aid.

The paper lashed out at foreign media outlets for their coverage of the presidential election and the opposition's protest, mentioning Anton Vyarnitski, head of the news unit at Russia's Channel One. "The biased press came in a coordinated manner to provide coverage of another 'color' revolution, although no preconditions for this had been seen in Belarus and Western politicians had publicly recognized this," Sovetskaya Belorussiya said.

"Under the guise of polite smiles and assurances of polite conduct hundreds of thousands of dollars were literally carried to Minsk in suitcases. Some EU ambassadors literally saddled themselves with the duties of instructors and curators for those who were to change the government in Belarus through force and tricks," the article said. "At the time when Messrs. Sikorski and Westerwelle were visiting Minsk and officially assuring the Belarusian government of a sincere wish to help the development of democracy, official figures from some embassies were playing the unseemly role of instigators."

"It is beyond any doubt that the secret services of above all Poland and Germany, which planned and organized the 'Tell the Truth!' campaign that was meant to become a new opposition force capable of changing the government in the country, had a hand in the December 19 events," the paper concluded. "Poland became a training ground for the organizational creation of a force capable of changing the lawful government in Belarus. Special and training camps for 'activists' were set up there, a new ruling class was trained there, the main foreign policy decisions were discussed with diplomats there."

The paper said that more article on the subject would follow.