Belarus detains citizens of neighboring states
Belarusian security services have recently detained a number of citizens of Poland and the Baltic states who were suspected of carrying out undercover operations on Belarusian soil, State Security Committee (KGB) head Ivan Tertel revealed on Tuesday.
Tertel claimed that his agency had registered a notable uptick in reconnaissance and subversive activities aimed against Belarus recently. The comments came as the KGB head was meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko and Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Sergey Naryshkin in Minsk on Tuesday.
“We have detained the traitors with whom they worked on our territory,” Tertel added.
He also stated that Poland is now trying to “achieve an exchange for one of these citizens by any means.”
However, Tertel noted that none of the persons detained by Polish authorities, who allegedly worked for Belarusian security services, have any connections to the KGB.
Tertel claimed that the KGB has also detained “dozens” of Ukrainian citizens who have been accused of attempting to commit terrorist attacks and carry out reconnaissance, subversive and espionage activities.
He added that Kiev has since turned to Minsk with a proposal to exchange these citizens, but noted that Belarus “does not need” any of the people the Ukrainian side has offered up. “We don’t need drug addicts, rapists and others who are serving sentences there,” Tertel said.
The official also stated that the KGB expects a serious escalation in the region in the coming months, and that it has registered a number of militant training camps in Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia.
“We know exactly all the recruitment points, we know who is doing it. We know their training camps, and personally know the instructors, as well as who is being trained in this regard and at what stage in their training they are,” Tertel said.
According to the KGB chief, these forces plan to carry out terrorist activities this spring on the territory of Belarus and that Western intelligence services are trying to “stir up the situation and organize an armed overthrow of the government.” He noted that Minsk is currently trying to bring these “destructive elements” to justice using international mechanisms.
