1
00:00:00,00 --> 00:00:06,500
Mr President, how do you assess the situation 
 in the country today? Do you think you have 
 managed to stabilize the country?

2
00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:11,400
Well, you have come to Minsk and saw how 
peaceful and calm it was, especially at night.

3
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,300
The city was amazingly clean!

4
00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:21,200
Yes, it is tidy despite some isolated cases 
of disturbance and stuff. And this [cleanliness], 
in fact, our brand. Which has been saved.

5
00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:22,100
How it is in Belarus -- and I have said this 
recently -- is perhaps similar to what you 
have in Moscow. You drive out of the city 
and there you have a totally different life. 
It is like this in Belarus, but not precisely, 
because we on Sundays, during weekends, we 
have a situation, and on other days it's 
quite normal. Naturally we try to support 
the image of Belarus, which is like you say, 
cleanliness, tidyness, calmness, and so on. 
But, on Sundays, people sometimes go out 
and make a mess. So here's your answer: we 
don't have any destabilization whatsoever. 
And you know what, if it hadn't been for 
the external factor, we wouldn't have even 
this [protest]. What do I mean by the external 
factor? Foreign influence. In this case, 
both we and the Russians know who is exerting 
this influence and from where. It's the Americans 
operating from a Warsaw center, through widely 
known Telegram channels. A second center 
is in Czech Republic. Then also they exist 
in Lithuania and, unfortunately, in Ukraine 
where they are creating footholds to influence 
the situation in Belarus.

6
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:27,000
You mean the American broadcast hub in Czech 
Republic?

7
00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:31,900
Yes, correct. They are using it now to exert 
external influence. Because you can see how 
it works -- in the known Telegram channel 
they rallied the people to go to a certain 
place, and the people went there, then they 
posted another meeting point for the protesters 
to congregate, and then they asked them to 
go to the Independence Palace, to the Flag 
Square, which is close to where we are sitting 
now. This is how they are influencing the 
protesters. But this is only one aspect of 
it. Another thing is that they have tried 
to probe us, I understand it now, but I was 
way more concerned back then when they launched 
some kind of military exercise on the Belarusian 
border. Or, to better put it, on the Union 
State border. Take note of it for the future. 
And like I said, I had to mobilize half the 
Belorussian army to protect the border.

8
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,800
Is there still tension on the border?

9
00:00:36,900 --> 00:00:41,700
Yes, across the whole border, apart from 
Russia, as we essentially don't have any 
border with Russia. So yes, the tension is 
still there. And we have even reinforced 
our border with Ukraine, which proved to 
be useful, considering what happened last 
night.

10
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:46,600
Mr President, I have a question regarding 
the opposition. In the Coordination Council, 
who are these people personally for you? 
And, in your opinion, what do they represent 
for Belarusian society today?

11
00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:51,500
I will tell you honestly -- and I will be 
completely honest in all my responses, so 
don't think that I might be...

12
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,400
We don't think that.

13
00:00:56,500 --> 00:01:01,300
Good, because it's typical for me that I 
never lie. We recently discussed this with 
Putin and he told me, "why are you so excessively 
open about everything?", and I said to him, 
"You know, you can say something today, forget 
exactly how you phrased and say it differently 
tomorrow, so people will later ask you at 
which time you were honest". So with regard 
to the people from the Coordination Council 
-- you wanted to know who they were -- I 
swear to you, I have no idea. I don't know 
them, and you probably don't know them either.

14
00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:06,200
So you haven't heard about them?

15
00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:11,100
Why, no, I have heard about them...

16
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:16,000
I mean before these events.

17
00:01:16,100 --> 00:01:20,900
Erm, but did the Council actually exist before 
the protests?

18
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,800
Well, its members existed...

19
00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:30,700
Of course, but I first heard about the so-called 
Coordination Council about 2 weeks ago or 
so when they published this anti-Russia, 
anti-Collective Security Treaty Organization, 
and anti-Russian people program.

20
00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,600
The program of reforms? Which they then quickly 
scrapped?

21
00:01:35,700 --> 00:01:40,500
Yes they did, because they felt a negative 
popular reaction to it. Because not only 
it was anti-Russian, but also anti-Belarusian. 
Then they issued a package of internal actions 
for Belarussian people, like don't pay taxes, 
don't pay utility bills, withdraw all cash 
from the banks quickly, don't buy Belarusian 
products, don't buy from state-owned enterprises, 
and so on. Those were more concrete steps, 
in the second program. So on this matter 
I am knowledgable, and I personally criticized 
them for this, because it's unacceptable 
for our country. But as to who those people 
are, I will reiterate, I don't know. And 
it's not only me, but also the Belarusian 
people and also you, well-informed journalists, 
nobody knows who they are. Well, people are 
saying they have this ex-minister, ex-ambassador 
and an ex-actor.

22
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,400
Ex-fluteplayer, as Soloviev [a famous Russian 
TV host] calls her.

23
00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:50,300
Yes, the fluteplayer, but without the "ex", 
as she's still playing the flute a little 
bit, I think? Although probably not here 
in Belarus. But anyway, it is said those 
people were in the Council. Some businessmen 
were also members, and interestingly, I learned 
that some of those businessmen I personally 
babysitted. I got word of it from my acquaintaces 
who were asking me, "How come? You were helping 
them all the time and now they are in the 
opposition Council?" And I couldn't believe 
it too. So we reached out to one of those 
businessmen to clarify things. And this guy, 
in the construction business, was shocked 
too because he was not aware of being included 
in the Council. So there you have it, so 
I'm quite reluctant to talk about specific 
people in the Council. One ran off from Belarus, 
another one tried to, but we apprehended 
her at the border. This sort of people.

24
00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:55,200
Can you please elaborate on this? What happened 
to Maria Kolesnikova? Where is she? Was she 
detained?

25
00:01:55,300 --> 00:02:00,100
Well, I can't really give you many details, 
because I was briefed only that she and two 
of her relatives or friends or whoever tried 
to escape to Ukraine today. They had proper 
documents to do that, which they showed to 
the border control officer who let them out.