From RIA Novosti:  Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday Western countries are preparing direct interference in his country’s affairs and are trying "to strangle the country with a slipknot."

"First there were political threats, disavowal of [presidential] elections, [European] entry bans and economic sanctions. Then there was an instigation of turmoil on our foreign currency market and dances on the bones after the blast at the Oktyabrskaya metro station," Lukashenko said addressing the parliament and his people. . . .

"These are all links of one chain aimed to plant mistrust for the authorities and to strangle the country with a slipknot. They want to force us to be just like everybody else, like they are eventually. We are like a bone in their throat," he said.  (photo: Ilya Pitalev/RIA Novosti)

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