MINSK, 1 June (BelTA) - Information and psychological warfare is one of the key threats today, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with participants of the 52nd meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services in Minsk on 1 June, BelTA has learned.
“Today one of the key threats is information and psychological warfare and fake information. The purpose of such actions is to undermine the authority of our states in the international arena. And not only that. Take the recent drone attacks on the Russian Federation. What was their impact in military terms? Almost zero. However, this can work pretty well when used as part of the information warfare,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “People start talking about such things both in Russia and here, and in other countries. Therefore, the information and psychological warfare embraces everything: economy, scientific and technical cooperation, internet, and even armed provocations,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The head of state stressed that the information monopoly of the West, in particular the control over the internet, the main social networks and international media, only serves this matter.
“They protect this monopoly, as well as their manic desire to prevent a multipolar world, by the slogan of this fight for democracy. There is nothing behind their ‘democracy'. There is no democracy there. Thank God, we have already understood that. We have seen how they act in the United States and what they are trying to make us do. Using this slogan, the Western elites will be working to disrupt our integration processes, force our countries to abandon partnerships and artificially create points of tension in and around the CIS,” the president said.
The most eloquent example of this is the current situation in Ukraine, which is used as a bargaining chip in geopolitical games today, the head of state said.
“Intelligence information which we receive, including thanks to the partnership between the intelligence agencies, shows that the abovementioned threats will continue increasing in the foreseeable future,” the Belarusian leader said. “If some of us think that we will be able to sit it out, we will not. Recent events in Kazakhstan serve as a blatant example. There's always an internal element. Such things do not come from nothing. There is always some internal element. There are forces, interested in destabilization, returning to power, and so on. Foreign secret services quickly create a whole bunch of these elements around this internal one to destabilize the situation in our countries. Kazakhstan is a vivid example of it and of our strength when we act united. It may seem we did not do much, but they saw our determination and backed off. That is why we need to stand by each other.”
During the meeting, Director of the Federal Security Service of Russia Alexander Bortnikov said that the West wanted to destabilize the situation in the CIS by increasing the conflict potential within the CIS and at its borders.
“The United States and the UK are actively working to separate the CIS countries. The intelligence community and diplomatic missions are working with the political and economic elites of the CIS states. This is the situation which is taking shape today. We see it all. Under the threat of secondary sanctions or the promise of preferences, they are trying to drive a wedge between our countries and impose favorable formats of cooperation in defense and security to extraregional players,” the head of the Russian secret service said.
He cited the examples of recent frequent visits of the heads of the security agencies of the NATO bloc to the CIS countries. “The United States and the UK are doing their best to influence the political leadership [of the CIS states] as well,” Alexander Bortnikov said.
According to him, the American and British intelligence, supported by the media and NGOs, has deployed a large-scale activity to prepare the conditions for a violent coup in the CIS countries. “We see this and take measures to neutralize these threats,” the director of the Federal Security Service of Russia said.
