{"id":232225,"date":"2021-04-19T11:17:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T11:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=232225"},"modified":"2021-04-21T07:38:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T07:38:24","slug":"belarus-says-us-backed-coup-murder-plot-against-lukashenko-thwarted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=232225","title":{"rendered":"Belarus says US-backed coup, murder plot against Lukashenko thwarted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press TV \u2013 Apr 19, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h4>\n

A US-backed coup and assassination plot against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been thwarted in a joint effort by security services of Belarus and Russia, the country\u2019s senior intelligence official revealed.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cAs a matter of fact, it was a plotted state coup,\u201d Belarusian State Security Committee\u2019s (KGB) Investigation Director Konstantin Bychek announced on Sunday during an interview with Belarus-1 TV channel, referring to the alleged plot which he said was \u201cthe first-ever criminal case on an attempt to seize power\u201d in Belarus.<\/h4>\n

He further stated that some suspects involved in the alleged plot \u2013 including a dual US-Belarusian citizen \u2013 were taken into custody and cooperating with investigators.<\/h4>\n

\u201cInvestigative actions continue. The detained persons have been taken to a KGB detention center. They are cooperating with the investigation, giving confessions,\u201d Bychek added, noting that officials have also \u201cissued inquiries to competent justice agencies of foreign states for legal assistance in investigating this criminal case.\u201d<\/h4>\n

The KGB official then identified the US citizen involved in the scheme as lawyer Yuri Zenkovich, accusing him of collaborating with US spy agencies and engaging in the recruit of Belarusian military service members to \u201ctopple\u201d the nation\u2019s authorities.<\/h4>\n

\u201cZenkovich was linked with US special services. In Belarus, he tried to recruit and contract servicemen of the Belarusian armed forces and law enforcement agencies who were ready to take part in violent overthrowing of the current authorities for money,\u201d he declared.<\/h4>\n

He said that according to Belarus\u2019 security services, the man had meetings with servicemen and with representatives of terrorist groups, including those that were nipped by the KGB. \u201cWe recorded two cases when illegal money payment meant for servicemen was deposited in secret hiding places,\u201d Bychek said, adding that active search activities were held for six months.<\/h4>\n

Pointing to Russian cooperation in thwarting the alleged coup plot, Bychek said after receiving a tip in March 2021 about Zenkovich\u2019s visit to Moscow, the KGB contacted our \u201cRussian partners \u2026 about the possibility of sending a group of Belarusian agents to Russia.\u201d He then underlined that the detention of the suspects \u201cwas conducted jointly with the Russian partners.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u2018A color revolution scenario\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

President Lukashenko. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

According to a report by Russia\u2019s TASS news agency, Lukashenko alleged on Saturday that Belarusian political analyst Alexander Feduta, opposition politician Grigory Kostusev as well as Zenkovich \u201chad plotted an assassination attempt on him and his sons,\u201d blaming \u201cUS special services and US leaders\u201d for the scheme.<\/h4>\n

Speaking to Belarusian media, Lukashenko further insisted that the group which includes Zenkovich and Feduta was \u201cdefinitely the work of foreign intelligence\u2026 most likely the CIA or the FBI.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Pointing to the timing of the coup attempt, the report then cited Belarus\u2019 KGB Chief Ivan Tertel as saying, \u201cthe plotters planned a coup for this summer, June or July.\u201d<\/h4>\n

TASS further cited Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that its agents had arrested Zenkovich and Feduta \u201con suspicion of plotting a military coup in Belarus and an assassination attempt on President Alexander Lukashenko,\u201d describing the alleged plot as \u201ca \u2018color revolution\u2019 scenario involving Ukrainian nationalists, and assassination of the Belarusian leader.\u201d<\/h4>\n

US denies involvement as \u2018absolutely untrue\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is while a US State Department spokesman on Sunday denied Washington\u2019s role in the foiled plot to topple and kill the Belarusian president, saying, \u201cAny suggestion that the US government was behind or involved in an assassination attempt on Lukashenko is absolutely untrue.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Pointing to the reports about the detention of \u201ca dual US citizen\u201d in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, the official added that the department was ready to provide \u201call appropriate consular services\u201d to the suspect involved in the coup plot.<\/h4>\n

Opposition members dismiss plot charges as fantasy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to an RT report, meanwhile, US-based members of the alleged coup plot, who remain free, have dismissed the allegations against them by Belarusian officials, saying \u201cthey were simply fantasizing about Lukashenko\u2019s downfall.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Citing a news story broadcast on Minsk-based ONT network showing Zoom meetings between alleged coup plotters, the report said participants of the video conferences were seven individuals that included the three arrested by security officers. It identified one of the four others as New York-based Pavel Kulazhenko, who denied the existence of a conspiracy and described the meetings as part of \u201can online discussion club.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Kulazhenko further claimed that they merely spoke about\u00a0\u201cthe same things that are discussed every evening in every Belarusian family \u2013 how to speed up Lukashenko\u2019s retirement.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Another participant in the Zoom meetings cited by RT was identified as Seattle-based Aleksandr Perepichko,\u00a0who admitted that a coup was \u201ca prime way to get rid of a bloody dictatorship,\u201d further insisting that \u201cit would have been unprofessional not to discuss various scenarios for regime change in Belarus.\u201d<\/h4>\n

However, he denied Belarusian official charges that the alleged plotters went further than \u201cventing their dislike of Lukashenko\u2019s rule on Zoom.\u201d<\/h4>\n

The RT report further pointed out that the ONT segment aired on Sunday also included hidden camera footage of what appeared to be the meeting in Moscow \u201cin which Zenkovich and Feduta detailed their suggestions on how to conduct a successful armed coup.\u201d<\/h4>\n

They discussed how Lukashenko needs to be\u00a0\u201cdisposed of\u201d\u00a0and at least 30 in Minsk \u2013 presumably top officials \u2013 need to be\u00a0\u201cinterned literally within the first hour.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Russia\u2019s FSB also described the plan discussed during the meeting as involving the killing of\u00a0\u201calmost the entire leadership\u201d\u00a0of Belarus, a military coup, and a power blackout of the entire country.<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt was suggested that the active phase would be launched by some armed groups (\u2018partisans\u2019), who are currently stationed at \u2018secret bases\u2019,\u201d\u00a0the FSB stated.<\/h4>\n

The action was reportedly scheduled for May 9, when Belarus holds a military parade dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, the RT report said.<\/h4>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Had the plot succeeded, another front would have been opened in the West\u2019s undeclared war on Putin\u2019s Russia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Behind_The_News","category-russia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=232225"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232234,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232225\/revisions\/232234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=232225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=232225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=232225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}