Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, commenting on the situation with protests in the country, said that the situation was not catastrophic, but there were enough problems.
"Once again, we return to the situation not even in Belarus, but in the capital — in Minsk. I will not say that there is some kind of catastrophe or the situation is too tense, but there are enough problems and there are enough questions that need to be solved. We can already clearly see what is happening", Lukashenko said during a meeting with members of the Security Council, as quoted by the state-run news agency Belta.
The instigators of street protests in Minsk are people from abroad, Lukashenko said.
"Today we can already absolutely clearly see what is happening. We see the actors today. As we said, the instigators and organizers of this all are people from abroad. In the forefront are people with a criminal past", Lukashenko said.
Speaking about the actions of law enforcement officers at the protests in the country, said that the security officials "should have a certain brake".
"I can't make claims to anyone today. I can't. Because you see how the situation is developing. The only thing, I will ask the minister and others: we are still Slavs, if a person has already fallen and lies, is not it is necessary to beat him. That is, there must be a certain brake," he said.
Lukashenko urged his compatriots not to "stick your head out into the streets."
"Don't stick your head out into the streets now! Understand that you and our children are being used as cannon fodder! Today they have come in large numbers here from Poland, Holland, Ukraine, from this 'Open Russia', Navalny, and so on and so forth. The aggression has already begun against the country", he said.
Lukashenko called on everyone to calm down and allow the authorities to restore order in Belarus.
"Tell me, how can a military man act? What should I do in this situation? Do you want me to sit and wait until Minsk is turned upside down? If so, we will not stabilise the situation later. Therefore, we need to stop and calm down. we will put things in order, deal with those who have come here", he said.
