Belarus leader claims to have quashed foreign-backed revolt

Alexander Lukashenko says masks have been ripped off puppets and puppet-masters'

Belarus' autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has claimed to have thwarted a revolution backed by foreign puppet-masters" after harassing and arresting his opponents ahead of the country's presidential elections in August.

We have managed to take steps to anticipate and thwart a major plan to destabilise Belarus (this is not a joke or a scare tactic) and bring a new Maidan [revolution] to the country," said Lukashenko, referring to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, in remarks carried by the Belta state news agency.