Republic

Lukashenko comments on Telegram boss’ arrest in France

During a nationwide conference on teaching held on 27 August Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made a number of comments about the arrest of Pavel Durov, the co-founder of the Telegram messaging app, in France, BelTA has learned.

The head of state raised the matter while talking about education. Many of those, who did not study well in school, are inclined to criticize the authorities by saying that things are better in the West, for instance, in France than in the home country.

“We saw those better things in France yesterday. And I don’t condemn them. They are doing the right thing. Durov or not. If you are guilty, you must be held accountable. Only why do you have to complain about us if you protect yourselves with the same methods?” the Belarusian leader noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned what President of Russia Vladimir Putin had told him about a conversation with France President Emmanuel Macron. The conversation took place after the latest presidential election in Belarus. During the phone conversation with the Russian president the French leader mentioned Belarusian affairs: “You have a friend in Belarus… There are political prisoners… The conversation took place after the election.”

Meanwhile, the protests staged by yellow vests were in full swing in France. “If you remember, they cracked down on everyone regardless of whether you are a woman or not. And Putin told Emmanuel to look at what was happening in France. Putin said that people, including women and the rest, were getting beaten up indiscriminately. That Macron should not criticize Lukashenko in such a situation. And he responded: ‘Well, we are a democratic nation. We can do it. But his is a dictatorship’,” Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled.

“What do you know? Democracy is when you can smash a woman’s head against the wall and splash blood all over it. In America you can choke a black person with no consequences. And today Durov has been arrested. This is why I’d like you to feel [the essence of Western democracy] and instill it into our school students,” Aleksandr Lukashenko told the pedagogues.