MINSK. Aug 10 (Interfax) - It is not the local authorities who are turning off the Internet in Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with chairman of the Commonwealth of Independent States election observation mission Sergei Lebedev on Monday.
"Someone just won't let go of the situation. They're calling on people to take to the streets. The Internet is even being turned off from abroad in order to cause discontent among the population. Our specialists are working now to figure out where it's being blocked from. Therefore, if Internet connection is poor, this isn't our initiative, it's coming from abroad," the BelTA state-run news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying at the meeting.
Deliberate attempts are underway to exert pressure on Belarus from different sides, and "they're acting in a hybrid manner in all directions," he said.
"But we'll withstand this," Lukashenko said.