Who guards the President and the opposition?
Aliaksandr Milinkevich and his wife got knocked down during the meeting on March 25. The former presidential candidate had to go through a medical rehabilitation course to recover. How did it happen? Where were Milikenvich’s body guards?
Photos show that Mr. Milinkevich was attacked by men in black. Aliaksandr Milinkevich explains:
“You know, I don’t have body guards. I always walk around Minsk on my own. Guys come to me and say they want to guard me. I reply: “Guys, it isn’t necessary”, but they come. There were young men on that day too, but they rushed to help others at that moment.
You know, if someone wants to kill or poison a person they will find a way to do it. Having body guards is very inconvenient. It irritates me and the people I communicate with. Let Lukashenka be guarded”.
And Lukashenka is guarded. A former head of the Supreme Soviet Mechyslau Hryb heard that Lukashenka had more than a thousand guards. It is a separate organization of well-trained people. And they are trained really well.
The President’s body guards often win in yearly body guards’ contests. For example, Lukashenka’s body guards were the best in close fight, driving and shooting from self-firers in 2005.
A member of the President’s security service Alyaksey Shybunevіch confessed in his interview to “Komsomolskaya Pradva v Belarusi” that it was hard to be the President’s body guard. The President has a very active life. He goes to bed at 3 a.m. and wakes up at about 7 a.m.”.
Mr. Shybunevіch also noted that Lukashenka liked roller skates which made his body guards walk faster. The President’s security service even used skis to catch up with the President at the ski track.
Mechyslau Hryb also recalled the time when only three people had body guards in Belarus. They were the head of the Supreme Soviet, the head of the government and the President (starting from 1994).
And you could count those body guards on the fingers of one hand. They were all officers from Department #9 –top-ranking officials’ guards. Mechyslau Hryb continues:
“There were only nine guards and one car in the security service of the head of the Supreme Soviet.
They guarded me at the state cottage in Drazdy and followed me home from my work. They also followed me when I was going somewhere alone.
If I wanted to go without guards I had to arrange it with them. They guarded me but they obeyed to the orders of the head of KGB. They had instructions to follow whether I asked them about it or not…
So if they did something I ask them they might have problems. But I arranged it with them. We are all humans and we can understand each other”.
But sometimes people have to ask their guards for help. For example, Aliaksandr Milinkevich was guarded by a group of seven professionals during the election campaign in 2006. One of the former Milinkevich’s guards says:
“We are to protect our clients, we watch the clients’ every movement, control the place and find out whether they are being watched. If something happens we act according to circumstances. I followed Milinkevich all the time.
Cars followed us all the time but it didn’t mean we had to run away. We only had to control all those cars.
At that time he needed guards. He had to be guarded not from the authorities but from people who were against him”.
Everyone has to decide whether to have personal guards or not. The only question you have to answer is who they should protect you from?..
Photo by author
Photos show that Mr. Milinkevich was attacked by men in black. Aliaksandr Milinkevich explains:
“You know, I don’t have body guards. I always walk around Minsk on my own. Guys come to me and say they want to guard me. I reply: “Guys, it isn’t necessary”, but they come. There were young men on that day too, but they rushed to help others at that moment.
You know, if someone wants to kill or poison a person they will find a way to do it. Having body guards is very inconvenient. It irritates me and the people I communicate with. Let Lukashenka be guarded”.
And Lukashenka is guarded. A former head of the Supreme Soviet Mechyslau Hryb heard that Lukashenka had more than a thousand guards. It is a separate organization of well-trained people. And they are trained really well.
The President’s body guards often win in yearly body guards’ contests. For example, Lukashenka’s body guards were the best in close fight, driving and shooting from self-firers in 2005.
A member of the President’s security service Alyaksey Shybunevіch confessed in his interview to “Komsomolskaya Pradva v Belarusi” that it was hard to be the President’s body guard. The President has a very active life. He goes to bed at 3 a.m. and wakes up at about 7 a.m.”.
Mr. Shybunevіch also noted that Lukashenka liked roller skates which made his body guards walk faster. The President’s security service even used skis to catch up with the President at the ski track.
Mechyslau Hryb also recalled the time when only three people had body guards in Belarus. They were the head of the Supreme Soviet, the head of the government and the President (starting from 1994).
And you could count those body guards on the fingers of one hand. They were all officers from Department #9 –top-ranking officials’ guards. Mechyslau Hryb continues:
“There were only nine guards and one car in the security service of the head of the Supreme Soviet.
They guarded me at the state cottage in Drazdy and followed me home from my work. They also followed me when I was going somewhere alone.
If I wanted to go without guards I had to arrange it with them. They guarded me but they obeyed to the orders of the head of KGB. They had instructions to follow whether I asked them about it or not…
So if they did something I ask them they might have problems. But I arranged it with them. We are all humans and we can understand each other”.
But sometimes people have to ask their guards for help. For example, Aliaksandr Milinkevich was guarded by a group of seven professionals during the election campaign in 2006. One of the former Milinkevich’s guards says:
“We are to protect our clients, we watch the clients’ every movement, control the place and find out whether they are being watched. If something happens we act according to circumstances. I followed Milinkevich all the time.
Cars followed us all the time but it didn’t mean we had to run away. We only had to control all those cars.
At that time he needed guards. He had to be guarded not from the authorities but from people who were against him”.
Everyone has to decide whether to have personal guards or not. The only question you have to answer is who they should protect you from?..
Photo by author
