MINSK. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that national army units on the country's western border have been put on high alert.
In Lukashenko's view, there exists a coordinated outside threat to Belarus.
"We have responded by deploying our army's combat units on the western edges of our border, placed them on full combat readiness. The defense minister has reported to me that all this has been accomplished, and today, the units are ready to fulfill their obligations," Lukashenko was quoted by the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA as saying at a meeting with the national Security Council on Tuesday.
He expressed his regret at having had to deploy special forces to suppress domestic protests. "Once again, I stress: I am very sorry that we were forced to deploy certain units, particularly special-operations forces, to tidy up the mess within the country. Well, there is this portion of our population. Not that they don't understand, they are doing it deliberately," Lukashenko said.
He blamed unnamed "representatives of foreign states" for his decision to put the army on alert. "There have been claims by representatives of Western states, including leaders of certain states, who don't even know where Belarus is and what is going on here yet are making these claims.
"As the military say, the outside component is forcing [us] to take into account the situation and act accordingly.
"So, today we have problems coming both from inside and outside. And them being absolutely coordinated activities, we already see that clearly. But this is not even a peak yet. The events will evolve accordingly, but we understand in what direction," Lukashenko said.