Belarusian Leader Reshuffles Security Chiefs in Face of Mass Protests

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko meets with newly appointed head of the KGB security service Ivan Tertel, newly appointed secretary of the security council Valery Vakulchik, and acting head of the state control committee Vasily Gerasimov in Minsk, on Sep. 3, 2020. Nikolai Petrov /BelTA/Handout via Reuters

MOSCOW—Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko promoted hardline loyalists to top posts in his security apparatus on Thursday in an effort to strengthen his grip on the former Soviet republic after weeks of mass protests and strikes.

Lukashenko, facing the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule, accompanied the reshuffle with instructions to act tough in the face of what he has repeatedly alleged is foreign aggression. “Belarus finds itself confronting an external aggressor one-to-one,” he told the new security chiefs.