PRESIDENT VOWS TO ROUT ALLEGED REVOLUTION PLOT

MINSK Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that unnamed forces were plotting a revolution that would fail.

As early voting began in an election in which he is seeking to extend his 26-year rule, Lukashenko said he would protect Belarus from opponents he portrayed as wreckers controlled by “puppet masters” abroad.

He faces his toughest challenge for years in Sunday’s election because of public anger over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy and human rights in the strategically important east European country of 9.5 million.