Belarusian Presidential Candidate Doubts Detained Russians' Intention To Stage Coup

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) Belarusian presidential candidate Sergey Cherechen told Sputnik in an interview he did not believe that the recently detained Russians intended to depose the government, and expressed the belief that Minsk was inflating an international scandal just to tighten control over protest campaigns.

In late July, 33 Russian nationals were detained in Belarus for their alleged preparations of unrest in the country ahead of the presidential vote � something Moscow has repeatedly refuted. The Belarusian investigators claim that the detainees are staffers of a private military company. At the same time, Russia insists they are most likely employees of a private security firm who were in Belarus in transit and missed their flight.

"I believe the authorities are blessed with finding some 'transitees' in our country. I do not think they have come to us to overthrow the regime," Cherechen said.

The presidential candidate � who is also the co-chair of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party Gramada � noted that the story was fitting into the context of the presidential electoral campaign.

"I think the authorities have fanned an international scandal to toughen control over public events organization," Cherechen went on to say.

According to the politician, the situation "could be used a a pretext for strengthening control over peaceful rallies" and justifying "virtually troop deployment." Cherchen expressed the belief the scandal could also be used as preparation for the possible protests after the election.

At the same time, Cherechen noted that the Belarusian government was unlikely to declare a state of emergency and cancel the vote (this is what another presidential candidate, Andrey Dmitriev, has recently assumed).

"What for should they cancel or delay the election? This would aggravate the situation, since the public sentiment is heating up," Cherechen explained.

The situation is unlikely to result in a conflict with Russia, according to the politician.

"It would have emerged if some armed gangs had really wanted to stage a coup there and the Belarusian government had learned about it. In this case, a conflict between the two countries' leaderships would have been possible. I do not think it all will result in some tensions in the bilateral relations," Cherechen said.