MINSK. July 2 (Interfax) -Belarusian border guards and soldiers have intercepted numerous drones used to carry explosives, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"Lately, border guards and military men have been intercepting dozens of reconnaissance devices, primarily drones, flying [into] out territory and going much more than one meter into Belarusian territory. You have seen it in mass media that several such unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed," Lukashenko said, speaking at an event in Minsk dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from Nazi invaders on Tuesday.
"I respect the Ukrainians who, through gritted teeth, were alright with this. But what I am concerned about is a different factor, and you too have seen that these drones are now carrying not kilograms but hundreds of kilos of the most advanced explosives into the Republic of Belarus. We know these destinations, predominantly, in the Russian Federation, for committing terror attacks [there]. I want to talk straight: we will be defending ourselves against these drones, no matter where exactly their destination is," he said.
"We don't want any Crocuses [terror attacks like the one committed in Moscow's Crocus City concert venue earlier this year] to happen again, don't want any explosions, etc. We have thus far kept off this onslaught, acting together with Russia's FSB and the Russian Defense Ministry," the Belarusian state-controlled news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying.