Belarusian opposition denies TV report of "putsch plan"

Opposition politicians in Belarus have denied a report carried on state television that they have a "strategic plan" to overthrow President Lukashenka and the government, Russian NTV reported on Monday.

It said the report was broadcast on Belarusian TV's "Resonance" programme on Sunday.

"The authors of that programme assert that the Belarusian opposition has drawn up a strategic plan for staging a putsch, and the editorial office purportedly has this document at its disposal.

"Calculated to cover a period of 12 months, its ultimate goal is the overthrow of the political system and the president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

According to the estimates of the conspirators, 32m dollars will be needed to do all this," NTV said.

It said the Belarusian opposition had immediately denied the claims and quoted Leanid Barshchewski, the leader of the main opposition Belarusian People's Front, as saying the so-called plan was a "fantasy".

"He stated that his organization has acted and acts within the law and the constitution," NTV said.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.