Expert: Belarus and Ukraine used the same provocation manual

A bulldozer left behind by the community services was noticed by people who walked from October Square towards the Parliament, witnesses of Dec.19 2010 events in Minsk say. It was almost the same as the one left behind by Kiev community services. However, either no one wanted to drive it in Minsk or the person in plain clothes who was supposed to do it was late.

Head of the analytical project Belarus Security Blog Andrei Paratnikou compared the two protest actions for Euroradio.

Andrei Paratnikou: "There are classic provocations used by special services all over the world. If the bulldozers were part of a planned action, it means that the two countries’ riot police used the same manual that had probably been made in the Soviet time."

Ex-police general, member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Gennadi Moskal agrees with the Belarusian expert.



Gennadi Moskal: "The scenario was identical: I cannot believe that someone left a bulldozer behind with the ignition key inside! There are special services watching such things – what if it contained a blasting assembly?!"



Such provocations are often organized by instigators disguised as protesters, experts say. There are a lot of them at the European Maidan, Ukrainian ex-Minister of Defence Anatoli Gritsenko said.

Anatoli Gritsenko: "All these provocations with bulldozers and armed groupings were organized by the government. They are accompanied by the police wearing their uniform and they often gain an advantage in covering the events on TV later..."



"What did the special services and police do to prevent it?!" Gennadi Moskal is indignant.

Nobody threw stones at policemen or drove a bulldozer during the Belarusian Square. Does it mean that there were no instigators?

"An instigator isn’t always someone who breaks windows. It can be a person urging the others to approach the building where it is necessary to break windows. The mob psychology comes into action then," Andrei Paratnikou explained.



The fact that Belarusian protesters easily approached the Parliament in 2010 proves that they were heading in the right direction, experts think. They were led to a place where the police had been waiting for them hidden in the building, Paratnikou thinks.

Andrei Paratnikou: "If you need a harsh scenario, and it was a honeymoon with Europe, you need to explain it somehow. That is why they said: ‘They were breaking the windows so we had to beat them!’"

The fact that leader of Tell the Truth Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu was ‘neutralised’ in advance only proves that people were led towards the Parliament on purpose, Andrei Paratnikou thinks. Nyaklyayeu had to direct people at the Square but others seized the initiative.



Provocation scenarios were created long ago and are used by special services all over the world, experts say. They advise that organizers of protests should prepare a good plan of actions.






Photo: Zmitser Lukashuk, obozrevatel.com, www.snob.ru, bymedia.net, novychas.info