Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко
Aliaksandr Lukashenka wants every village council in Belarus to have a people’s militia. He made the statement while continuing his visit to the Verkhnyadzvinsk District, where a training exercise involving one of the units was organised for him today.
“When creating this structure, I had in mind that every village council should have a people’s militia. This is the core,” Lukashenka said, according to his press service.
According to him, village councils should serve as the basis for the militia.
“I don’t want every second person here to die as they did during the war. Everyone was slaughtered, and we were unable to respond. Someone has to protect their family. We are men; we must know how to handle weapons, at least how to fire an assault rifle, a pistol or a machine gun — small arms. And we must protect ourselves, our families and our village,” he added.
Lukashenka said he was pleased with what he was shown today.
“You have one unit, a good unit. But that is not enough. We need to expand. We need to establish more basic units like this elsewhere. They must be linked to one another,” he said, recalling that he had instructed Igor Shunevich, head of the Belarusian Society of Hunters and Fishers (BBOR), to recruit hunters into the militia.
It should be noted that yesterday Lukashenka visited an agricultural enterprise in the Verkhnyadzvinsk District owned by businessman Mikalai Varobei, who is close to him and also owns a hunting estate in the same district. Announcing today’s programme on Telegram, Lukashenka’s press service described it as an “interesting and important example — the organisation of a militia within a private entity.”
“At the very bottom is the people’s militia. Next comes territorial defence, which protects infrastructure facilities. The people’s militia, territorial defence and, at the top, the army. Naturally, this entire structure is under the command of the president,” Lukashenka explained.