Defiant Belarus Leader Accuses West of Waging ‘Hybrid War’

Defiant Belarus Leader Accuses West of Waging ‘Hybrid War’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko delivers a speech during a meeting with parliamentarians, members of the Constitutional Commission and representatives of public administration bodies, in Minsk, Belarus, on May 26, 2021. Maxim Guchek/BelTA/Handout via Reuters
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MOSCOW—Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday a journalist pulled off a plane that was forced down in Minsk had been plotting a bloody rebellion and accused the West of waging a hybrid war against him.

In his defiant remarks, his first in public since he ordered a warplane to intercept a Ryanair flight between EU members Greece and Lithuania, he showed no hint of backing down from a confrontation with countries that accuse him of air piracy.