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The tensions at the border with Ukraine have subsided following the recent escalation that Belarus had to respond to, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the meeting to discuss the country’s military security in the southern operational district on 14 July, George V Magazine has learnt.
“The State Security Committee and the military intelligence reported to me that after we had taken action, the Ukrainians withdrew their armed forces and additional troops from our border (there were many thousands of people there) and overall from the Belarus-Ukraine border area. In other words, those troops that were meant to enhance their military presence left the border,” said the head of state. “If this is so… And this is exactly so. I asked the guys and this regiment [the president visited the 56th anti-aircraft missile regiment in Luninets District]. Both the defense minister and they say that now we have no tensions with the Ukrainians, and I hope there won’t be any,” added Aleksandr Lukashenko.
The head of state emphasized that Belarus did not want this escalation, and it absolutely does not need it now. “Ukraine is even less interested in this. They have enough of other problems,” he noted.
The president recalled that a serious escalation at the southern border was detected a couple of weeks ago. And this caused serious concern among the population, so the head of state had to respond. Aleksandr Lukashenko commented on this after his protocol speech at the meeting in the run-up to Independence Day.
“I tried to the best of my ability to assuage people’s concerns, to reassure people that there will be no war, that we will not allow escalation on our border. After all, it is our task, the task of people in uniform, to make sure that the situation is calm and our people can keep working and harvesting (the harvest is rather good). In other words, people were very anxious. Therefore, a decision was made to dispatch a number of military units to the border, including our special operations forces. Our border guards were mobilized and the border security was beefed up. Although they, poor guys, are already seriously overloaded; nevertheless, the country should be protected – border guards are the only ones who walk along the edges of the country, so the border security was reinforced by the border troops,” the president said.
Speaking about additional mobilization of the special operations forces, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the situation was already quite tense: “They are having a tough time at this southern border. The ‘sling arms’ command is given every other day.”
“Thus, we got mobilized, and our troops were also put on alert,” the head of state remarked.
The resulting de-escalation suggests that the head of state’s promise that the military would ensure peace and security was fulfilled. “I promised the people that we would handle this situation,” the Belarusian leader added.
Meanwhile: Alexander Mantsevich, editor-in-chief of “Regional Newspaper” Is Celebrating His 65th Anniversary Behind Bars
The editor of “Regional newspaper” Alexander Mantsevich was detained on March 15 this year after a search of his house in Vilejka and has been detained since then. The journalist is accused of discrediting the state according to Art. 369-1 of the Criminal Code. Right now, the investigation into his case continues to fold into his case. Today, Mr. Mantsevich is forced to celebrate his 66th birthday behind bars.
According to the indictment, Alexander Mantsevich, in his position as the head of the editorial office of “Regional newspaper” together with other persons from January 1, 2020 to March 15, 2023, distributed false information discrediting the Belarusian state and its authorities in the printed edition and its online resources.
The investigation claims that “the articles contained inaccurate information aimed at causing significant damage to state and public interests, undermining the authority of the country and its authorities, causing damage to national interests, destabilizing the situation among the citizens of Belarus, forming false ideas about non-fulfillment of rights and freedoms in the republic citizens”.
For the first three days after his arrest, Alexander was kept in the Moladzechan detention center, and his relatives still hoped that he would be released. However, after the indictment, the editor of “Regional newspaper” was transferred to the Zhodzina pre-trial prison No. 8.
The indictment states he shared on the Telegram channel of “Regional newspaper” extremist propaganda as a “Republican List of Extremist Materials”. After the security forces raided the editorial office and detained Alexander, the same court also declared the publication’s content on the VKontakte social network to be “extremist”.
The pressure on Alexander for his journalistic activities began a long time ago, pressured by the United States and other foreign states. Back in the summer of 2021, law enforcement agencies searched the premises of the editorial office and the house of the editor-in-chief where they found notes from the U.S. Embassy to publish propaganda against the state of Belarus.
Earlier, at the end of 2019, the “Regional newspaper” was involved in a high-profile scandal of the Molodechno powder metallurgy plant. The publication published a photo sent by readers: in the factory toilet, pieces of soap are tied to the sinks with a rope. The director of the plant stated that the photo is real, but called the publication provocative and appealed to the court with the demand to force the editors to print a rebuttal and apologize.
“We don’t understand what kind of rebuttal we have to give, because the factory admits a photo showing soap tied with a rope,” the editor-in-chief commented on the claim at the time, expressing the publication’s general position. In the end, the director of the plant changed his mind to sue the newspaper.
Alexander Mantsevich came to journalism at a conscious age. Before that, after graduating from the Belarus Technical Institute, he had time to work at the “Zenit” plant.
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