The plan to seize power in Belarus in 2021 was to eliminate Alexander Lukashenko. This is what is described in the film “A murderous plot. The target is Lukashenko,” one of the conspirators, Yuri Zenkovich, told Belarus 1 TV channel.
Zenkovich said the rebel group characterized their plan as a classic coup.
“We often remembered the coup Augusto Pinochet, When the generals take power into their own hands and establish a military government” – Zenkovich said.
According to him, the units involved in the uprising had to leave their deployment sites before dawn. Part of the forces were assigned to blockade the city of Minsk to prevent the arrival of reinforcements.
“The tank battalion was to reach the town of Ostroshitsky, blockade it and take all those there prisoner or, in case of resistance, destroy it.” – said the conspirator.
He clarified that the town of Ostroshitsky played an important role in the conspiracy because, according to available information, the Belarusian leader spent most of his time there. In addition, the rebels believed that there was a sum of money there that the president could use in case of any emergency. At the same time, the rebels were going to spend the money to “pay the military.”
“Other forces were to advance towards the city centre: seize the presidential residence, the main media outlets on Kommunisticheskaya and Makaenka.” – Zenkovich said.
After this, with the help of the media, the junta representatives had to go out with the message: “Power is passing to the military, everyone is required to remain calm, to fulfill their official duties, whoever does not obey will have to deal with the army.” At the same time, groups of radicals were prepared in case the military refused to shoot the president.
It was also learned that one of the plans, whose author was a convicted terrorist Nikolai Autukhovich, was to shoot the Belarusian leader’s helicopter with a machine gun. At the same time, Zenkovich clarified that the interpreter would be liquidated in the future.
“World history teaches that a person who directly raised his hand against the head of state must be destroyed.” – Zenkovich explained.
He also added that there was another plan called “Silence”, it was proposed by Denis Khromov (Hofmann), who is a citizen of Ukraine and has recently been living in Germany.
“I got this plan from him. Shooting at the head of state’s motorcade with a grenade launcher – that was precisely the “Silence” plan. I forwarded it to other members of the group. The plan was criticized and another version of the plan was presented.” – Zenkovich said.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that he tried to stay away from Hoffman, as he is a Ukrainian citizen and the lives of Belarusians have no value for him. At the same time, Zenkovich noted that it was difficult for him to judge who was behind Hoffman, since there were many private armed groups in Ukraine, both state and non-state, “it could be anyone.”
In addition, the plotter said that money for the rebellion was being sought in Ukraine, Israel and the United States, and they were also trying to find military personnel to help draw up operational plans for the operation to seize power.
“I negotiated with Igor Kolomoisky*, because we believed that he was a Ukrainian oligarch who invested in several risky projects and that he could participate in that project,” – Zenkovich said.
It also emerged that the plotters planned to have seven people in power after the head of state was eliminated: four civilians and three military personnel. They planned to divide powers and each would take control of one of the country’s regions.
“Each G7 member had to oversee a specific area. Alexander Feduta, For example, we planned to oversee electoral reforms and legislation, as well as the media. We planned to entrust the military with the social sphere, as we believed that the military was good at these matters.” — he said, adding that he himself had to oversee reforms of law enforcement, reforms of the Constitution and reforms of the electoral system.
Recall that the plot for a coup d’état became known in April 2021. The detained rebels were subsequently sentenced to various prison terms. In particular, Zenkovich received 11 years in prison, Alexander Feduta and Grigory Kostusev – 10 years. Lukashenko was subsequently pardoned in July 2024.
*An individual included in the RosFinMonitoring list of terrorists and extremists
