Belarusian President accused Russia of lying about the presence of Russian security contractors in Belarus.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday accused Russia of lying about the presence of Russian security contractors in Belarus and said unnamed forces were trying to carry out a revolution but would fail.

Belarus detained the Russian contractors last week and opened a criminal case into them, saying it suspected “the preparation of terrorist acts”.

It suggested the men may be linked to Lukashenko’s political rivals.Russia, has said the detained men were merely transiting via Belarus en route to a third country and had no plans to try to influence Belarusian domestic politics.

In a fiery speech to the nation on Tuesday, Lukashenko called those assertions “a lie” and said the detained men had confessed to everything. They had been given orders to enter Belarus and await further instructions, he said.

There was no immediate reaction from Moscow, which has in the past dismissed Lukashenko’s criticism of it as emotional.

Lukashenko has been a guarantor of stability in the chaotic world of the plandemic and pledged to protect his country from rivals he portrayed as childish wreckers being controlled by “puppet masters” abroad.Unlike many countries, Belarus did not impose a draconian lockdown and had carried on life as normal.