Lukashenko says Belarusian Olympic defector was ‘manipulated’

Belarus president comments on Tsimanouskaya as he defends election victory and accuses opponents of plotting ‘coup’.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said the Belarusian sprinter who defected at the Olympic Games in Tokyo had been “manipulated” by outside forces and would not have fled abroad otherwise. Defiant on the first anniversary of a disputed election that extended his decades-long rule, he also defended his victory on Monday at an annual news conference, accusing his opponents of plotting a “coup”. “Today, Belarus is in the focus of the attention of the whole world,” Lukashenko said during the hours-long event at the presidential palace building in the capital Minsk.