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Lukashenka suggests that Moscow could be behind embassy attack

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has commented on Monday's firebomb attack on the Russian embassy in Minsk, suggesting that the incident could have been orchestrated by Moscow, as quoted by BelaPAN.

A diplomat's car was burned after two firebombs were hurled into the embassy's territory late on August 30.

"This is a horrible emergency for us, as nothing of the kind normally happens in our country. We reacted immediately and offered assistance to the embassy, but they said that they would cope with the matter on their own," Mr. Lukashenka said on September 1.

The Belarusian leader hit back at some Russian experts and politicians over speculation that Minsk could be behind the attack, saying that such remarks can be made only by "scumbags and morons."

"Did we need this following a series of propaganda films, campaigns and so on? We could not need this by any means, the more so as this harms the Belarusian president," he said.

"The accusatory tone of the Kremlin's mouthpieces suggests that our law enforcement agencies must take a more attentive look at the incident," Mr. Lukashenka said.

"There was one attack, followed by a second one, followed by a third one through the media, unprecedented pressure in the economy. They probably wanted to bend the president over, but it is the other way round. They needed to look for other methods. It is most likely that Moscow probably needed this incident to show how [bad] the government in Belarus and the president, who allegedly masterminded what they describe as a terror attack, are," he said.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, vice speaker of Russia's State Duma (lower parliamentary chamber), on Monday branded the attack on the Russian embassy as the beginning of Mr. Lukashenka’s presidential campaign.

"Something what occurred in Minsk at night, this attempt to set fire to our embassy and cause damage was the beginning of Lukashenka’s presidential campaign,” the nationalist politician said in televised comments.

“Perhaps, it was not him who programmed this, but someone from his team. They decided to aggravate relations with Russia as much as possible and rally support for Lukashenka among patriots of Belarus to claim that Russia turned its back on Belarus, and to play the anti-Russian card.”