A number of Western countries could be interested in organizing a coup in Belarus and then trying to influence the situation in Russia, say politicians and experts interviewed by Izvestia. This is how they reacted to the message about the detention by the special services in Moscow of the citizens of Belarus Alexander Feduta and Yuri Zenkovich, who also has a US passport. According to operational data, the plans of the detainees included not only a military coup during the Victory Parade in Minsk, but also the physical elimination of President Alexander Lukashenko. The head of the republic and representatives of the KGB have already announced the involvement of the American special services in the incident, the “consultations” that the detainees took place in the United States and Poland, the data of the investigation also say. Another piece of evidence is a video made during secret negotiations between Zenkovich and Feduta in the Russian capital. According to experts, if the special services had doubts that the conspirators would move from words to actions, the detention would not have happened.
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“They flew from the USA”
The details of the special operation, during which the FSB of the Russian Federation together with the KGB of the Republic of Belarus detained in Moscow a citizen of the United States and Belarus Yuri Zenkovich and Belarusian Alexander Feduta, became known on Saturday, April 17. According to the published data, Zenkovich and Feduta planned to carry out a military coup according to the tried and tested scenario of “color revolutions” with the involvement of local and Ukrainian nationalists, as well as the physical elimination of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The name of 56-year-old Feduta appeared in the news of the Russian media on April 12, when a friend of a Belarusian political scientist announced that he did not get in touch after arriving in Moscow. The next day, the KGB of Belarus admitted that Alexander had been detained on suspicion of “committing a crime.”
It is interesting that in 1994 Feduta was a member of Lukashenka’s campaign headquarters, and after the latter’s victory became the head of the department of public and political information in the presidential administration – in fact, his press secretary. Subsequently, the political scientist authored a biography of his former leader.
The FSB press release said that information received from Belarusian colleagues that ideologues of the Belarusian radical opposition were discussing a plan for an armed rebellion in Belarus in private chats of one of the Internet messengers and decided, using secrecy measures, to hold a personal meeting with opposition-minded people in Moscow. representatives of the armed forces of the republic.
“Upon Zenkovich’s arrival in Moscow, after consultations in the United States and Poland, the scheduled meeting took place in a separate office of one of the capital’s restaurants. During the meeting, the conspirators told the “Belarusian generals” that for the successful implementation of their plan, it was necessary to physically eliminate practically the entire top leadership of the republic. They detailed a plan for a military coup, including the seizure of radio and television centers for broadcasting their appeal to the people, blocking the internal troops and OMON units loyal to the current government in the capital of the republic, ”the FSB of the Russian Federation noted.
The security officials also spoke about the preparation of a complete shutdown of the power system of Belarus to hinder the actions of law enforcement agencies. According to the FSB, it was assumed that the active phase would begin by armed formations (“partisans”) located at the so-called “hidden bases”.
“The ultimate goal was to change the constitutional order with the abolition of the presidency and the imposition of the country’s leadership on the“ Committee of National Reconciliation ”. At the same time, Zyankovich planned to become the “curator” of the country’s parliament and the legal system, while Feduta wanted to engage in political reform and ideological work. It is noteworthy that the oppositionists chose the day of the Victory Parade in Minsk on May 9 as the date of the military coup, ”the security service explained.
It was after these secret negotiations that Zenkovich and Feduta were detained by the Russian security forces and handed over to the authorities of the Republic of Belarus. On the same day, the Belarusian KGB confirmed the fact of the arrest of the conspirators, as well as other persons involved in the case. In the republic, a criminal case has already been opened against them under Article 357 of the country’s Criminal Code – “Conspiracy or other actions committed with the aim of seizing state power.”
On the same day, the president of the republic himself commented on the detention of the group planning the attempt on the life of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his children.
– We found the work of clearly foreign intelligence services, most likely the Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, I do not know which of the Americans worked there. We discovered their desire to come to Minsk and start organizing an attempt on the life of the president and children, ”he said.
After that, according to Lukashenko, the republican authorities “through their own channels” transmitted information about the conspirators to Russia and other countries.
– We captured them in Moscow, they were afraid [приехать в Минск]… They flew from the USA – agents, – he said. – His surname is some kind of Zenkovich. They were afraid to go here after we detained several groups that brought weapons here, and hid them in hiding places. They left for Moscow. And who else is there? Ours was this – Feduta.
This, according to Lukashenko, was followed by an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation and the head of the FSB. More than a dozen of Belarusian security officials took part in the operation, he said.
On April 18, the head of the investigation department of the KGB of the republic, Konstantin Bychek, announced the connections of one of the detainees, Yuri Zenkovich, with the US special services.
“This is a hybrid war”
The actions that Feduta and Zyankovich tried to take must be very tough, Oleg Gaidukevich, deputy head of the commission on international affairs of the lower house of the Belarusian parliament, told Izvestia.
– We see that there is a hybrid war against Belarus and Russia, sanctions, economic and political pressure are being used, – the parliamentarian is convinced. – The first target is Belarus. Because if a coup d’état and the elimination of the president succeed in Belarus, the NATO borders will come close to the Russian Federation, and Russia will be the next target. Therefore, our further actions are to strengthen the national security, law enforcement system and tough response measures. The same as in the USA and Europe. Not a single person has the right to encroach on the national security of the country.
According to Gaidukevich, any measures should be taken in this situation.
– There will be a reaction from the Foreign Ministry, but first we need to conduct an investigation. We never made hasty statements, ”he said. – It is already clear from the statement of our Foreign Ministry on sanctions against Russia that we will support Moscow, because these measures were introduced illegally. All these are links in the same chain – both the assassination attempt on our president and the sanctions against the Russian Federation – all this is one and the same hybrid political game.
According to Belarusian laws, the capital punishment – the death penalty – does not threaten Zenkovich and Feduta, since they “planned, but did not implement.”
There are different opinions about the fact that the detainees could have organized “something serious”, added political analyst Aleksey Dzermant.
“They pretended to be intellectuals, but at the same time, we can say that these are not harmless boys. They have been in politics for a very long time. Feduta is an experienced political strategist who has repeatedly taken part in destabilizing actions and worked in Ukraine. So this is not just an intellectual scientist, the expert believes.
According to him, attention should be paid to what the detainees themselves said – judging by the recording, no one put words into their mouths about plans to eliminate the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko and intern top state officials. The intentions were expressed, and neither the FSB nor the KGB would have detained anyone if there were no grounds to believe that these people are moving from words to actions, the political scientist is sure.