Belarus To Let US Access Dual Citizen Detained Over Plotting Coup 'Based On Circumstances'

GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2021) Belarus will consider all available evidence before deciding whether to grant US diplomats consular access to dual national Yuri Zenkovich, who was detained over the weekend on suspicion of plotting against President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei told Sputnik on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the Russian internal security agency FSB and the Belarusian state security committee announced the arrest of Zenkovich and Belarusian citizen Alexander Feduta, who, allegedly, planned to stage an armed coup in the country and assassinate Lukashenko. The US embassy in Belarus told Sputnik that it had requested consular access to Zenkovich.

"The special services in charge are dealing with the situation.

We will be in contact with the relevant institutions where he is being held, and we will act according to the regulations of such institutions and based on the circumstances surrounding this case. So, currently, I cannot say which actions will be taken in relation to this person. But he is a citizen of Belarus. The fact that he also has another citizenship was uncovered later," Makei said.

According to FSB, lawyer Zenkovich and political scientist Feduta, both members of the Belarusian opposition, planned to topple Lukashenko during the Victory Day parade in Minsk on May 9. The plan purportedly included seizing control of Belarusian television and radio, and taking Belarus off the electric grid to thwart communication of special police units and troops.