Belarusian president urges not to force him to conduct special operation to protect Belarusians

MINSK. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Belarusians have become targets of attacks in Ukraine, and Belarus is facing threats of terror attacks, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.

"Is he really forcing me to conduct a special operation to liberate my people there? They don't know our special forces. Madmen!" Lukashenko said, answering journalists' questions after voting in the referendum in Minsk on Sunday.

"Don't touch our people. They came to your country probably on vacation, and they have a lot of relatives living there. And they're now being beaten and bullied," Lukashenko said.

"They're threatening us with terror attacks. They have trained thugs there [...] and are egging them on against Belarus," he said.