During the ceremony of presenting state awards and shoulder straps to the senior officers of the Armed Forces of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko shared details of the incident with the airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C) A-50U at Machulischy airbase and spoke about the detention of the Ukrainian special services terrorist and his accomplices, who were involved in the attempted sabotage of the aircraft.
March 2, Belarusian sources published video of a small kamikaze drone flying toward the Russian Air Force AEW&C A-50U at Machulischy airfield. The plot showed the reconnaissance process. The drone flies into the airfield unhindered, circles around the Russian plane and lands on its radar antenna, then simply flies away.
“On my orders, even before my business trip to China (you probably guessed it), the toughest orders were given to the security forces (here they are). I swore at you there, and I said swear words. That is zeroed out today. But do not forget,” Lukashenko praised the officers.
According to the President of Belarus, one of the organizers of the attack has been detained, while the plane was slightly damaged and sent to Russia for repairs. Alexander Lukashenko said that it all started eight months or six months ago, it remains to be seen exactly. The location of the events was Kiev.
“The Security Service of Ukraine, the leadership of the CIA, either on the side, or behind the back, were working out an operation against the Republic of Belarus. A terrorist has been prepared. He is a Russian with a Russian passport and has a Ukrainian passport. He was born in Krivoy Rog, lived in Crimea. Some relatives in Austria, some stayed in Kiev. He was recruited by the Ukrainian secret service in 2014, I think. An IT guy or well versed in IT technology. He was preparing to commit terrorist acts,” the president of Belarus explained in detail.
The terrorist failed to cross the border with Ukraine – border guards had to make a mark of the border crossing in his Ukrainian passport. He found his way to Minsk by a circuitous route: from Warsaw – to Lodz, then through Riga – to Pskov and then to the Belarusian capital, said Alexander Lukashenko.
“The plane has not suffered any significant damage, except, as they say, scratches and one hole in the hull, which does not prevent a military aircraft to perform its duties. We showed you this plane. As I was told, it even met the president when I returned from Beijing. Nevertheless, we asked the Russians to take this plane for maintenance and send us another one,” Lukashenko commented on the attack on the A-50U.
The President spoke in detail about the preparation and conduct of the operation by the state security forces to detain the terrorist, which was complicated by the fact that there was no border between Belarus and Russia, while the executor of the terrorist act had intended to get to Russia. According to Lukashenka, they managed to detain him in a mansion in a garden association near Borovlyany by analyzing thousands of phone calls, negotiations, meetings and conversations of various suspects.
