English

Lukashenka signals plans for security crackdown

Alyaksandr Lukashenka warned on Wednesday that negligence and the lack of discipline would not be tolerated following Monday's bomb attack at a Minsk subway station.

Announcing in a televised speech that the perpetrators of the attack had been caught and already confessed, Mr. Lukashenka signaled plans for a clampdown on human rights.

"All this idle talk about democracy, democratization, which is being imposed on us from outside, has nothing in common with the true democracy and people's power that must exist and does exist in our country," he said.

Mr. Lukashenka noted that the country's people and authorities had relaxed their vigilance too much due to the "peaceful, stable situation in the country." "Today each of us must understand that without a drastic change in his attitude to himself, his life, work, family, children, those surrounding him, we won't achieve those high country development goals that we have set," he said.

"The strictest possible order, good organization, precision, good teamwork are the basis of our further survival," Mr. Lukashenka said.

According to him, "our people is ready for that." He said that people caught up in the bombing had not panicked and helped others.

"We should by no means become complacent," he said. "A security crackdown must be conducted in all directions. You know what I mean, I have been telling you this for two days. You see how much brutal and bloody the world around us is becoming. And we must not let the situation around us develop according to such a pattern."

Mr. Lukashenka said that "not only security and law enforcement agencies but also the executive government, economic entities and in general all of us - ordinary people" should learn a lesson from the incident. //BelaPAN