Russian senator: Protests in Belarus were orchestrated in advance

The senator said: “The processes that began right after the polling stations were closed indicate that they had been prepared, that the actions had been orchestrated. Because it is impossible to prepare the protests that happened within one or two hours. Specifically prepared people took to the streets. I am not saying that only those, who are trying to destabilize the situation in Belarus now, participated in the protests. It is possible that other dissatisfied people were there, that there were some grudges. But there is no doubt that the instigators intended to destabilize the situation in Belarus.”

Vladimir Dzhabarov noted that the beginning of the street protests looked very much like an attempt to repeat the maidan riots that took place in Kiev in 2014. “But maidan riots in Minsk won't work,” the Russian senator is convinced. “Lukashenko is not Yanukovych, who flew to Kharkov and then to Crimea and then to Rostov. Lukashenko will not leave Belarus and will defend the authority his people have given him.”

According to the senator, the protests would have been even stronger if the difference between the results Aleksandr Lukashenko and his next competitor achieved during the election had not been that great. “It is understandable that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya represents no one, that no one will fight for her,” Vladimir Dzhabarov said. “But those, who stage riots now, they are definitely under orders, no offense.”