The authoritarian President of Belarus Saturday challenged with angry allegations that the State was behind a subway bombing that killed 13 and wounded 200 more.
The bombing Monday in the capital, Minsk, intrigued experts on terrorism who have struggled to speculate about possible motives in a country closely controlled with little history of attacks on such a scale.
Some bloggers have speculated that the authorities may have resorted to terrorism to distract the Belarusian poor economic state of the country.
In a televised statement, Alexander Lukashenko stated that "only idiots" would accuse the Government.
Lukashenko said: "the situation in the country is so critical that I have to resort to desperate measures." It is not critical. ?
The authorities have arrested five suspects in the explosion Monday, including a man in his mid twenties accused of placing the bomb on the platform of the busiest Metro station in Minsk. Investigators have not said, but who ordered the bombing.
Lukashenko, nicknamed the "last dictator of Europe" by the West, has run Belarus with an iron fist for almost 17 years, maintaining controls over the economy and cracking down opposition Soviet-style and independent media.
It has been declared the winner crushing of the presidential election of Decembers, which has been strongly criticized by international observers. Hundreds of opposition activists, including seven of the nine other presidential candidates, have been arrested following massive protests triggered by the presidential election.
Belarus passes through a severe economic crisis, with reserves of currency running critical low and a possible imminent currency devaluation.
Lukashenko Friday, said that economic problems had been instigated by forces not specified in their efforts to destabilize Belarus.
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