State Security Committee chairman Ivan Tertel, speaking about relations with Poland and negotiations with the United States, divided Belarusian political prisoners into “cream” and “disposable goods”.
After reporting to Alyaksandr Lukashenka on December 24, Tertel threatened to disclose certain details from the accounting records of Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and described political prisoners as a tool of the United States.
“Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spends more on trips than, it turns out, the MFA of Lithuania itself spends on similar events. And there, if you look at the accounting of the Lithuanian MFA (we have it, of course), there is something to show the Lithuanian people. In due course we will show it. And our Lithuanian partners understand this situation,” Tertel was quoted as saying by BelTA.
“With the Polish side it is the same story. I will not disclose certain details, but when we discuss these issues, they all admit that if it were not for the huge funding from these interested forces… Essentially, their instrument,” the KGB chief said.
According to Tertel, these issues are raised during negotiations with the United States, when the American side asks for the release of certain individuals.
“We told them directly: ‘We understand you, this is your instrument that was not realised in the Republic of Belarus. You promised them, you invested in them, there is a lot of your agents there, you would like to pull them out.’ In some cases this is understandable, we also do not abandon our people. Not all of them, though, are pulled out, but the very cream. And those who were drawn in by others are, by and large, not needed. This is ‘disposable goods, expenses’,” Tertel said.
Tertel also spoke about new proposals from the United States for Belarus.