To get back to school which side will have the strongest appeal. Thanks for agreeing to give us an interview where a whole group or as they write a landing of russian john everyone is familiar glad to welcome you you seem to be in a good mood well thanks to you coming im in a good mood. Mr Lucas Shanker what is your take on the Current Situation in the country do you think you were able to bring it on the control you came to minsk and you saw things will calm and quiet especially at night all right before doors. Very clean. Clean despite the fact that there were some marches and such it is a brand and we have preserved it hasnt disappeared as for things happening in belarus ive said it many times before you leave minsk go beyond the city limits and its a completely different world. With chris we might have one kind of situation on sunday on weekends and during weekdays everything goes back to normal naturally were trying to maintain a certain image our countrys brand as you said keeping things clean neat comic cetera but sometimes on sundays we have people Walking Around so this is the answer to the question there is no destabilization in our country and if it hadnt been for the external pressure we would not have had anything at all what do i mean by this external pressure there are attempts to run things from outside the country we know and russians know who is trying to control and from where it is americans from a center near warsaw using well known telegram channels the 2nd center is in the Czech Republic then lithuania and unfortunately bases are being established in ukraine and theyre being used to influence better reuss historically the Czech Republic heres what the americans have had their Main International broadcasting hop thats which box so to speak is that. Exactly and theyre using it now this is the external influence im talking about you see some well known channel drew a square on sunday go to that and they went they stood inside the square for a bit then another square was drawn to that then they were sent to the independence palace state flag square around the corner from here basically thats how they control the action this is one type of influence the other type of influence they try to take a little bit thats how i see it now but so i took it seriously at 1st when they started all kinds of military exercises ned bellary says border and the border of the union state we will need this term for the future of course as ive already said i had to mobilize half of the belorussian army to counter the threat to still keep the borders reinforced yes along the entire perimeter except for russia with which there is virtually no border atoll just the formal Boundary Line apart from that shore the borders remain strengthened and weve stepped up control even further on the border with ukraine judging by the events of the last night we were right to do say mr president a question about the opposition specifically the Coordination Council of the opposition who are these people to you personally and what do you think they represent for bellaver Russian Society today. To tell you honestly and ill be completely honest with all the my own says so you dont think of me like im. We never have. When it comes to the Coordination Council when i tell them who are these people i swear i still have no idea i dont know them and neither do you most probably. Say you hadnt heard of them before all of this started. Was there a council before all of this started well no but the people with that sure the people with them but as for this socalled Coordination Council i 1st heard about it 2 weeks ago when even before that theyve published the anti russian anti c. S. T. Oh program yes their program to oppose everything russian it wasnt just an anti Russian Program it was anti belorussian is well im with you could you give us more detail about Maria Kolesnikov up where is she. I probably cannot give you much detail due to the fact that i was only told that she and her 2 other friends or drivers will close ones or distant ones they fled to ukraine today and they had documents and everything prepared in advance they showed their passports on our side customs officers Border Guards let them through further on is the state border and the ukrainian post but between these posts there are 8 to 9 kilometers and there are border is heavily guarded so we deployed more gods naturally they were stopped before the gas pedal she was even thrown out of the car on the move well on the run. So they themselves did it. With yes well there were 3 of them who could have thrown her out Border Guards of course detained her as would have been expected i say this as an old border guard and she was sent to the Border Office and the car went across the Ukrainian Border through the ukrainian post and then as far as im now informed they were detained and were negotiating with them so that they return them to us. What for they left they relatively speaking were released from belarus. You know they could not be detained they travelled legally with documents but they violated the state border they checked in at the checkpoint the Border Guards and customs officers did their jobs and the border itself is another 8 or 10 kilometers away and they drove right through the reinforced post and hid in ukraine allegedly this woman sister lives in ukraine and legibly i dont know for sure they told me this today i ask why is that ukrainian not lithuania not hungry as they usually go to someones relatives to said to live that i cannot claim so i dont know everything yet therefore she was detained and we asked the ukrainian Border Guards to return the others to our country we will investigate what happened. Mr lukashenko since the opposition does exist and are you willing to negotiate with any of the Opposition Forces and if so what would it be about. And told president s dont negotiate with just anyone at this point i dont know who im supposed to negotiate with if i opposition you mean the people who put forward those 2 programs there is nothing for me to talk with them about what is there to discuss take health care if it was all private and people had to pay for it we would have covered 1000. 00 corpses all around better roost europe in the us is the best illustration for private healthcare. The us fast of all of course. Theyve shown what private means we treat you if you have money or take the proposed would draw from the collective Security Treaty Organization you serious all the weapons we currently have a russian made the simplest way to explain why we cant do this is because if we drew from the c. S. T. Oh we will no longer be able to purchase russian aircraft and helicopters tanks infantry fighting vehicles and guns at local russian market prices will be getting them a Global Market prices that is if russia agrees to sell them at all and even if russia is on board with us on next step will be to join nato and you know requirements for new comers will have to apply for nato is all moments immediately and what do you think theyll give us an outdated stuff to start with and decides to do Something Like this is outright stupid just imagine russias response if we do this they wont sit back and watch us joining nato they dont need their own tanks nisson lenski russia will do everything it can to stop that from happening just think what would become of bella roost in that case a war zone stuck between russia and nato is that what we really wants what i can discuss with them but. With whom are you ready to talk than. You know weve discussed it today i said it once off the cuff i can talk i need to begin this dialogue if i have to by going to the masses i need to engage in dialogue with students which would be quite appropriate now with work with the active cool the active core is not just those who hold office as part of Civil Society i think that before we have a referendum on the constitution and we definitely will we talked about this 2 years prior to the elections they came up with 2 drafts but in my eyes nothing much was really changed. In the missile if there is going to be a new constitution does it mean that the next president ial election might be how before the 5 year term is up. If were going to change the constitution the procedure for the president ial election will have to be spelled out in it im leaning towards the idea of having an early president ial vote as a separate thing i do not rule out this possibility but it is. You are leaning towards it yes its my own thinking nobody gave me this idea and im saying this to you for the 1st time im leaning towards if you go and you will be ready for it in about 2 years right no i cant give you an exact timeline we need to adopt a new constitution hold local elections if were going to have an early vote it should probably take place before the parliamentary election we want to keep the parliament until we have a new president and then hold the parliamentary vote in accordance with the new constitution that we will have at that point if were going to have an early president ial election. Mr lee we saw you and your son with the sold rifles what was that what was your message and who was it directed at still no there are many theories but we want to hear firsthand from you what a pity well it is very simple i know that margarita had a post shed on a well known telegram channel and got hype out of it im sorry that was a joke. Its ok. Many people followed the channel and what did they see an hour before our parents the president s children of the president has fled the country the president is a coward cetera. There were posts like the ones you mentioned yes so you get this information what would you do in my place q. I would prove that im still here thats what i did i showed that im not a coward and im not afraid as i was is that a message the belly loose or to the broader world. But without external pressure we would have resolve these issues long ago. Mr lucas shanku how is it possible that bellerose which is always been famous for its 18 months is now in a situation when these developments are run by telegram channels as you say from abroad it means you have given up this space to somebody else how did that happen. Everything is globalized and connected internationally if you think that rich russia can handle it you are wrong i talk to many president s to my senior friend i called him my elder brother putin and i warned him you just cant beat it how do you even oppose a telegram channel can you brockett no one can not even the inventors of the World Wide Web the americans im sure youve seen whats going on over in the us telegram channels are playing a major role there as well but this entire business sits there doing they started it a long time ago it wasnt russia rebel or roots that initiated it is paying them all along and they got what they wanted whatever let god be the judge but sway are the ones reaping the results shutting down the internet and all that even if we did shut it down at this point the telegram channels from poland would continue to operate you should stay on your guard as well youre in for some Political Developments too and its going to come out of the blue our shared understanding with the russian establishment in leadership is this if bellerose falls today russia is going to be next im not saying that you will collapse youre a powerful Nuclear Country but the soviet union was a Nuclear Power too where is the soviet union today so complacency is bad some things was so sudden they happened not because of carelessness we just did not expect it how could you expect that they would get so deep into the minds of the people through the internet in these telegram channels people are intoxicated by it some people are just getting crazy you could have a couple of rotten apples and we know how to counter that but what about the young generation they do not read anymore they do not care about Genuine Culture music books etc they run to the internet what is good in it for the youth and for us sometimes is a cornucopia of information and we only read the headlines headlines only we do not even read the short story behind it we simply do not have the time there is so much information and our children are students this is a new generation some. Say weve overlooked no its not true life is different that is the heart of the matter im not arguing that all we need to do is stand against this new type of life but we have to fights not just against this life but also for the future of our children otherwise youll definitely see the results you will spark a new war we used to have a quiet and calm then things started to get going in minsk we should not exaggerated but we should not downplay it either. Still to shango factory workers in belarus have taken to the streets to protest to this is the situation at bell a russian production safe stable right now i am asking as a russian citizen because i know that the bulk of the russian products is exported to russia what is the situation at the factories like the point is not that our goods go to russia thats not our greatest achievement russians can get the products were selling to them anyway even if it 3 or 5 times above our prices but still and they can get good quality not inferior to better russian products to be objective they did they could be some factory workers among the people protesting on sundays its very possible that you know what im sure that there are workers among them but todays factory work is not the same work as 2 months ago some of them were seriously bamboozled and yet not a single factory was stopped. Sure go on strike and so i tell them why not go stage a strike were closing the gates but if you do know that youre not coming back because neither come out through a caterpillar will happily snatch they contract for heavy duty trucks and now everyone is back to work fractures never really went on strike but it was the socalled oppositional rob that these activists that came out of nowhere who organized everything well in advance preparing an entire framework of protests they wanted these people to go on strike so that there would be chaos and turmoil but i wasnt worried after all it wasnt about me really i mean nothing last forever some day someone will have to replace me as president if we still have a president ial republic someone will come take this Office Sooner or later but speaking of the current generation of belorussians as you said there bella russians who are still not afraid of anything thats something that ukrainians especially like to say those city by the russians they just havent been scared properly but once they have a taste of fear theyll know whats what i personally wouldnt want my country and my people to be scared in the world. I think what russian journalists that were interested in exactly what happened to 33 russians who were in custody in particular that was a better russian sub for ukrainians and russians and. It was reported to me that they crossed the border between russia and bella ruse as were in a critical security situation we have to control and all of them checked into the same hotel they then moved closer to minutes deliberately or not close enough to the president s residency i asked the belorussian k. G. B. And other special services whether they can control these peoples actions ive been told that theres a chance they wouldnt be able to handle it to trace and neutralize all of them ok and we have to detain them so that nothing bad can happen so we did next morning the scandal alexander gregorovitch as they calling you those people a wagner Group Employees they were going to fly to a stamboul. Then some would fly to libya others somewhere else we looked at the tickets they had to istanbul they were driving on the moscow highway 5 kilometers from the airport they had several hours to their plane they didnt go there they went to minsk with the tickets time went by the 2nd plane to istanbul took off they didnt go but they were under our control the next day theres new information no these ascensions people they were heading to venezuela to secure production fails so 33 people todays is stamboul tomorrow venezuela such and told me these are not my people i was not going to venezuela dont come down on me i summon the National Security leadership and the attorney general i told him to call russia and ukraine let prosecutors from russia and ukraine come to better routes as mandated and International Treaties craning Prosecutors Office sent a letter demanding to transport them to ukraine come on whats your basis for that will you send me the papers at least so they didnt come neither did the russian prosecutor i asked my older son victor to take food and water to the detainees he in person to both groups from in scans on sina to a bus he asked them where they wanted to go or of the mosque to take them to the russian border so he did if i were convinced that wagner employees came meaning no illegal activities in belarus but i dont know that to this point i just let them go in a humane way but im still on the web why they came. Mr lucas you have talked a lot about external factors that lead to this destabilisation brothers but all the internal factors at play. In your opinion there are only a few so theres no reason for this Color Revolution there are no classic deep reasons for this kind of revolution to be brought about in better routes so theres no classic precondition where the economy collapses people are out of work they dont get paid cetera the really income of our population has grown by 5. 4 percent this year and by about 7 percent last year even in russia real income diminished by 8 percent you can look at the exact figures and it has decreased even further this year because you shut down your economy you didnt work and its the decrease and weve shown growth even if slight we see improve. The top internal causes of this content then you know there are personal reasons as well i guess ive stayed my welcome a little you turn on your eye and im presenting my Electoral Program that you turn on your eye and its Lucas Shanker that you put on your kettle it solution go that you turn on your t. V. Its lucas shango that and so on and so forth and i guess some part of the people have grown particularly tired of it but thats not the main cause not the biggest thing the 2nd biggest were the main causes what im saying it looks a lot like an element of the petty bourgeois revolution we now have these little boys who are rich people the i. T. Crowd that i created with my own big hands by providing conditions they wouldnt get anywhere else why is that because our country is calm quiet stable you can do whatever you want and you dont need to pay taxes it doesnt get any better so theres this new group and they doing quite fine just drive around the minsk suburbs take a look at those mansions of course its not like those palaces around moscow but thats moscow after all so they have good houses everythings nice and pretty and what do they want they want power. But. Returning to the protests once again we all have seen that both the protesters and the Security Forces behaved aggressively it is clear that rallies including illegal ones are harshly suppressed in all countries france britain germany america but we saw one person in the photo there was nothing living left on his back are you not shocked by such harsh treatment of the opposition by some Security Officials everyone knows the situation the Pretrial Detention Center in the case how justified can such harsh suppression be. A lot of people have been saying that they were not going to go out and join these columns of protestors but they went and began to protest because they saw such excessive cruelty. Have they left the streets now. Indeed many of left now they come out less maybe some have left some have stayed out over 200000. 00 you know that thought no i didnt think you would see the situation like this this is not a criticism you just dont have the information. Why are you asking about aggression by belorussian swat teams these are teams and the internal Security Forces a working on the streets it is their work to stabilize the situation in our country they break the law know the only thing i dont like about this as you russians and soviet people say do not beat those lying down and when i saw the footage where well of course we did something wrong i told them openly like a man i even met with them you probably saw in the streets we showed one meeting where i met them and said that i do not welcome this behavior we shouldnt beat those who fall and down you asked me about what happened the oppressed in Detention Center and why does everyone blame the swat team for that when in fact they saved us as we all see now from a blitzkrieg without these guys again we would not be sitting here they confronted the protests and it was necessary to somehow attack people its not just about swat teams mr we want talking about them you were talking about the swat team. Well russians were talking about them in our opinion your honest with us were honest with you ill tell you honestly it is generally the task of swat teams police the National Guard others to keep order to detain those who try to force their way into residences. With a its a in accordance with the law yes of course i dont see anything wrong with using buttons against people it happens in all countries all over the world i would like my peace and quiet to be guarded too so thats not the point at all and we are not about that we ask about the oppressed and Detention Center where people no longer pose any threat and unfortunately not just detainees but also journalists were attacked including our journalists my colleagues who are not in our position and are in fact against Color Revolutions but most of them because you know we are a patriotic publication our office and people walk accordingly we dont like all of these things but they were also arrested or were roughed up but there is nothing to ask you about because i also dont want to put you in a position where you have to make excuses about them then i have no need to make excuses that i should receive news the way you need to know about it and deal with it swat teams also defended you and with batons and rightly so but when its unarmed people who go to the Business People who attack the place got the right response as for journalists never mind journalists is not a journalist but a person who perhaps accidentally got caught up in it but how can a journalist get caught up in it he was there in this mess who would start figuring out who is who in the mess its his job. Youve seen what was happening there obviously it was not on purpose to grab an r. T. Employee to boost what you did. When you knew i have no questions as to why they were detained i understand that and this mess who try to understand or you would john in a store from poland or what for somebody. It is impossible to figure out. But then off to detention days pass they were not fed they were beaten and has to be dealt with would sit in the present shall we just turn this page with passion i just want to make sure that you are aware you think im not aware i know the name so ive been through it so i know it all and i have to weigh it all carefully yes and some went too far. We need to turn the page and come back when passions have died down we made our conclusions were not made of stone that is what matters we made our conclusions a journalist got hurt somebody else got hurt too its too brusk to say that things happen but in life such things always happen when theres this large battle but the fact is we save the republic the country and stability thats how i see it not without victims so you think you have saved it right but it saved im sure can you imagine if this blitzkrieg had succeeded at 8 oclock voting stations close and in 6 hours it is a. Woman means is it all over there seeing one can breathe one can breathe no we are saying the protests are getting weaker. I just said too early to relax and you should not relax its just the beginning the americans are playing this long game so we intercepted the conversation however much you sneer that this is a real conversation we can let you listen to a real recording we really want to we really want ask bought because about it no it is with the federal security over everything we handed the disk real recording interception from the secret phones how the recording was encoded when you intercept a secret recording if you catch it at the wrong time it breaks thats how the system works we handed over the real recording documents and even the envelope where this information came to me all day so dont make jokes about it we have a lot of this type of information but this one was obvious if you publish the original recording there will be no questions gotten a call of what about him is he not allowing it. It is his property now i cannot show it we only have the copy the real copy of this voice in english it is very clear who is speaking not german not polish american english i called bought a cough and sent him this envelope he said they will examine it you should try to confirm it with Mr Lukashenko. Changed during the years of your route so why did the russians vote for you. So that i stablished order that this is one of the reasons why i have a rifle but only because im ready to protect that i dont have anything else you see maybe if i had a few 1000000000 i might act like pershing but i dont so im not afraid to even tell them at home kids one day the lord will take me when somebody tries to stop me from something i will leave someday but i will not allow the destruction of what we were building so. What will scuttle in the nickel Mr Lukashenko heres a question that you have probably been asked what is the most important thing in life for you after these events and values. To be honest i dont even know its hard to say why you didnt well my children and the children of those who work closely to me what keeps me very much in this situation and you probably know it too if you look at shank it collapses now the whole system would collapse and bella reuss would follow the whole system i think everything would be put back years well maybe someone would have lent a hand. We even know whose hand it might be the more we will both but now it would be very hard in these guys from swat teams and others those who are with me is it their fault they would be blamed sand they would be assaulted and torn apart you can see whos on the streets now theyre not kids listen people will forget about them tomorrow these are those you cant see but i can see them and i owe them of course its unusual to look at it now and for me its very resentful and tragic if you like but this does not mean i gave up because i look at it philosophically well some day the lord will call me but i must protect whats being created by our hands protect those people who created it and those are the overwhelming majority as margarita said the majority who voted for me although they watch me every day on every device you name it maybe they got bored but they have supported me this is how i live now. Its. Join me every 1st week on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see that. Problem drugs dont always come from unscrupulous dealers but from pharmacies to in every state in the United States we see me very sharp increase in the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to prescription opioids invaded america under the banner of medicine persisted with the pain but instead of trying to wean him off though she just goes after dose after dose after dose and really became his drug dealer whos to blame patients doctors manufacturers the government. If you look at collapses now the whole system would collapse and belarus would follow and everything would be put back years the president said bella risk gives an interview to Russian Media including authors he when he claims his country would collapse if hes both out. But. Meanwhile dozens are arrested during rallies protesting the detention of the bellaver cell physician figure had no real kolesnikov. So many hands its test results on alexina valmy to the Global Chemical weapons watchdog office saying the russian opposition figure had been poisoned with novacek moscow had been pressuring them to shed