Military officials are as much to blame for the incident as Mr. Lukashenka, Thomas Mazetti says.
Tomas Mazetti of Swedish PR agency Studio Total, who piloted an aircraft invaded Belarus' airspace last month to drop teddy bears with pro-democracy banners, said he had not expected the stunt to result in the dismissal of Belarus' top generals.
On July 31, Aliaksandr Lukashenka fired the heads of the State Border Committee and the Air Forces and Air Defense Force over the plane's flight, which experts said exposed flaws in Belarus' air defenses.
Mr. Mazetti said that the July 4 stunt had been aimed at showing support for independent journalists in Belarus. It was never meant to make Mr. Lukashenka penalize any officials, he stressed.
According to Mr. Mazetti, the military officials are as much to blame for the incident as Mr. Lukashenka. “But the president of Belarus is trying to find someone to put the blame on,” he said.
Mr. Mazetti said that the organizers of the flight had found information about Belarus' air defenses on the Internet while preparing for their undertaking. It was easy to invade the country's airspace and fly back to Lithuania unhindered, he claimed.
Mr. Mazetti and his associates have tried to contact the Belarusian authorities after the incident but the latter are reluctant to speak to them.
Speaking at a meeting with top defense and border control officials in Minsk on July 26, Mr. Lukashenka described the invasion by the plane as a “provocation”. “The plane was detected in time. But why did not top officials abort the flight? Whom did they have pity on?” he wondered.
At least two people, who are both civilian, have been arrested over the incident so far.
On July 13, the Committee for State Security (KGB) arrested young photographer Anton Surapin. The news site Belarusian News Photos, founded by Mr. Surapin, 20, ran images of the teddy bears with miniature placards lying on the grass hours after the drop. In his comments, Mr. Surapin said that he had received them from an anonymous author living outside Minsk.
He is facing a charge of assisting to illegally cross state border.
Another arrested person is Siarhiej Basharymau, the man who is believed to have leased out an apartment to representatives of Studio Total who arrived in Belarus to take pictures of the drop and provide help to the pilots in case of emergency.
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