European officials dismiss Lukashenko’s allegation of plot to kill him :: Charter'97 :: News

The European Union believes that Aleksandr Lukashenko had no grounds to allege that Western countries were plotting an assassination attempt on him, Cypriot MP Christos Pourgourides, the author of a report to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on Belarus` high-profile disappearances, said in an interview with the Belarusian Service of RFE/RL on September 29.

Angered by the EU`s entry ban on four Belarusian officials suspected of involvement in the disappearances, Mr. Lukashenko said the previous day, "They [the West] have a lot of measures against our country`s leadership in store. I have recently received additional information about what they are contriving, including plans to liquidate the president.”

Western countries do not behave as the Belarusian regime does and do not contrive murders or disappearances of people; they use only democratic means to remove someone from power, the Belarusian Service of RFE/RL quoted Mr. Pourgourides as commenting.

Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, described Mr. Lukashenko’s allegations as laughable. In an interview with RFE/RL, she said that the objective of the EU decision to impose the travel restrictions was to establish the fate of the disappeared people. Until the cases are detected - and the only method to detect them is to conduct an independent investigation - the officials will be under the restrictions, no matter whether or not President Lukashenko likes this, Ms. Gallach said.