Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to deploy forces to help Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko maintain control in the face of widespread protests against election fraud, the Kremlin chief said, blaming the unrest on Western countries.

“Mr. Lukashenko has asked me to create a reserve group of law enforcement personnel, and I have done this,” Putin told Russian media in an interview. “Now, it is not necessary, and I hope that it will never be necessary to use this reserve, which is why we are not using it.”