Lukashenko explains arrest of four Latvians

As he met with residents of the agrotown of Prudok, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said he had given instructions to clarify all the circumstances surrounding the detention of four Latvian citizens in Belarus, BelTA has learned. Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that various Internet resources had recently reported the detention of four Latvian citizens in Belarus. Mass media reported that the people came to the Belarusian town of Braslav to attend a music festival. It turned out that a Latvian resident was the first to release the story on the social network X. She said that four young men she knows went from Latvia to Belarus by car and were arrested. The video was accompanied by captions: “This is how your life may be turned upside down. Be careful and look after yourself. If you know someone who has been in such a situation, please, let me know.” Another user shared this post in their own account and added a comment: “They went to Belarus for a party and now cry crocodile tears. Will you go to North Korea next time?” The post was viewed about 60,000 times. Multiple comments followed: “You have to be a complete idiot to go there for a party”, “Hasn’t any parent explained to these kids that they are going into a hostile country that is engaged in active hybrid warfare against us?”, “Well, if you don’t have brains and you want to go to Belarus, then go right ahead”, “They were taken hostages for Belarus to swap them later for its own”, “KGB framed the case in order to capture Latvian citizens”. Certainly, the event was added to the president’s daily mass media digest and the situation could not leave him unmoved. “Everyone started complaining: ‘He introduced the visa-free travel program in order to arrest our people!’ Certainly, I am worried about it and I’ve given instructions to sort it out,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. It turned out that these citizens had narcotic substances on them. This is why they were detained by law enforcement agencies for the sake of clarifying all the circumstances. “You have to think about where you go. Drugs are not acceptable in our country. And then they were not imprisoned as usual but were allowed to go. They went to a hotel. We ordered an expert evaluation in order to demonstrate what kind of drugs it is. Marijuana. Well, why did you have to bring it here? And now they cry we’ve offended them. We will offend no one. Especially guests. Belarusians are that kind of people. But you mustn’t bring illegal drugs into our country,” the head of state warned. “Feel free to come to Belarus. We will offer you a shot of vodka but no drugs. This is why we don’t offend anyone and we don’t intend to,” the president stressed. “We treat them humanely. I was even surprised that police treated them so well. They were taken to a police station, started crying, saying the drugs didn’t belong to them, that someone else, who had driven this car, used these drugs. Well, you came here in this car and it has a load of drugs. They were accommodated in a hotel and an investigation is in progress. And they dare take offense at us. There is no reason for it.”