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Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
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Belarus Weekly: Poland reports attacks on border guards, one allegedly involving a Belarusian serviceman
Poland reports two attacks on border guards, one allegedly involving a Belarusian serviceman. Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko invites up to 150,000 workers from Pakistan to Belarus amid deepening labor shortage. Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin threatens Poland, Baltic states during a visit to Belarus. Meanwhile, Russia has added 1,200 Belarusians to its wanted list since July, while Belarus brands jailed EU mission staffer as "terrorist." Subscribe to the Newsletter Belarus Weekly Join us Poland reported two attacks on Polish border guards by migrants over the weekend, with one incident involving a uniformed Belarusian officer throwing rocks at a Polish patrol. Polish guards stopped 115 illegal border crossing attempts, between April 11 and 13, Polish authorities said. Belarus initiated an artificial migration crisis at its borders with the EU in 2021 'in response' to a package of European sanctions. While Minsk denied Warsaw's accusations of orchestrating a hybrid attack, Lukashenko claimed Belarus 'would not stop' (illegal migrants) attempting to cross into the EU. The migrants attacked a Polish border guard patrol near Mielnik, the village close to the border with Belarus. CCTV footage recorded a Belarusian soldier joining them in throwing rocks at the patrol, the spokesperson for Polish Interior Ministry Jacek Dobrzynski said on X. Another attack occurred on April 12 near the village of Czeremcha, with one guard being struck on the face with stones twice. 'The migrants are very aggressive when trying to cross the border,' the Border Guards department in the Podlasie region said in a statement, adding that the soldier's life and health were not threatened. Poland's Internal Minister Tomasz Siemoniak confirmed that Belarusian officers were involvement in direct provocations. Siemoniak characterized the actions as 'unheard of.' 'If a certain line is crossed here, we will regard it as an attack by representatives of the Belarusian state on our border,' Siemoniak told Polish broadcaster TVP Info on April 14. 'I understand that an employee of the Belarusian special services, probably instructing (the migrants), got carried away. However, we take this very seriously.' According to Siemoniak, previously, Belarusian secret services kept well back from the border, delivering migrants to the area but not approaching the barrier themselves. Heightened rates of irregular border crossing attempts have also been reported in Latvia, as 179 individuals have tried to cross the country's border from Belarus. Data from EU member states' border guards, collected by the independent Belarusian news outlet Pozirk, indicates a drastic increase in illegal border crossing attempts since the beginning of April, to 522 attempts — compared to 355 attempts for the entire first quarter of 2025. Following an official meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Minsk on April 11, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said he would invite up to 150,000 Pakistani guest-workers to Belarus. Belarus's role in Russia's war against Ukraine and Lukashenko's crackdown on mass public protests following the 2020 contested elections, have forced between 300,000 and half a million Belarusians to flee the country. This exodus, combined with downward-trending demographics, has left the country with severe labor shortages. Lukashenko's proposal to take in up to 150,000 Pakistani guest-workers to help address Belarus's deepening labor crisis came amid an array of agreements reached between Sharif and Lukashenko at their Minsk meeting, ranging from military cooperation, to food security, and trade. 'We're ready to receive (guest-workers) in Belarus and create the necessary conditions for them to work,' Lukashenko said. Accepting '100,000, maybe 120,000-150,000' guest-workers would ease the pressure on the labor market of Belarus, which has over 199,000 vacancies among a working population of roughly 4.1 million. The outflow of political exiles from the country is compounding the twin problems of an aging population and a historically low birth rate, which dropped to 6.96 per 1,000 in 2023, comparable to wartime Ukraine's six births per 1,000 people. Belarus, which had a population of 10 million at independence, has likely seen it drop below the officially reported 9.1 million. Leaked documents from the State Control Committee suggest that the actual population could be as few as 8.8 million. However, Belarus is hardly an attractive destination for Pakistani workers compared to the job markets of the EU or even Russia, argues Lev Lvovskiy, the academic director of Belarus's leading economic think-tank BEROC. In 2024, the average monthly wage in Belarus amounted to approximately $647, significantly lower than in Europe and barely double Pakistan's $294 average. Besides, Belarus is a monoethnic country that lacks the experience of assimilating distinct cultural and religious groups. Meanwhile, RFE/RL political analyst Valer Karbalevich writes that 'like many other projects of Lukashenko, (this) will probably end in failure. (…) Even if Pakistanis come to Belarus, they will most likely strive, by all means and without any hesitation, to move on to a better life – to Europe.' The arrival of hundreds of thousands of Pakistani guest-workers might also ring alarm bells in neighboring EU states tackling weaponized migration on their borders with Belarus. In response to European sanctions in 2021, the Belarusian regime created an artificial migration crisis at its borders with Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland — all EU member states. Belarus facilitated travel from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, including Pakistan, promising easy passage into the EU. The director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, threatened NATO states during an April 15 meeting with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, saying that Poland and the Baltic states would be the 'first to suffer' if there were any 'NATO aggression' against the Russia-Belarus Union State. Speaking to journalists after meeting Lukashenko, Naryshkin described Poland and the Baltic states as 'highly aggressive,' portraying their defensive measures as 'saber rattling,' state-owned Belarusian news agency Belta reports. 'In the event of aggression by NATO against (Russia and Belarus), damage will be done, of course, to the entire NATO bloc, but to a greater extent, the first to suffer will be the bearers of such ideas among the political circles of Poland and the Baltic countries,' Naryshkin said. Polish President Andrzej Duda, reiterating NATO's defensive role, dismissed Naryshkin's remarks as 'Russian baloney disinformation, typical of the Soviet school of propaganda.' Naryshkin's visit comes amid preparations for Zapad 2025, large-scale Russia-Belarus military drills set to host up to 13,000 Russian troops in Belarus in September 2025. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys, told Baltic news portal Delfi that the actual scale of Zapad exercises far exceeds the publicly declared scale. Earlier in April, Belarus state-owned news agency Belta reported that three other military exercises — Interaction-2025 for the operational response forces, Echelon-2025 for logistical support, and Search-2025 for reconnaissance — are scheduled to be held in September in Belarus along with Zapad-2025, with a yet undisclosed number of additional troops to be involved. The drills will occur under the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led military alliance created to an extent as an alternative to NATO, but now weakened by internal rifts. Armenia froze its participation in 2024 as the bloc failed to support it in its conflict with Azerbaijan. Amid rising regional security tensions, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland on March 18 withdrew from the Ottawa Convention, banning the use, production, and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines, citing 'fundamentally deteriorated' security in the region. The four states have also been developing a joint Baltic Defense Line on their borders with Russia and Belarus. Russia has added another 1,200 Belarusian citizens to its wanted list over the past five months, independent news outlet Mediazona Belarus reported on April 9. Mediazona found that since July 2024, at least 100 Belarusians have been added to the Russian wanted list every month. The largest increase of almost 300 entries came in December 2024. Currently, the database lists 4,700 Belarusians, including members of the exiled opposition, Belarusian volunteers fighting for Ukraine, journalists, and human rights activists. Included at Belarus's request, those on the list are wanted in both countries. Belarus and Russia are part of the Interstate Wanted Persons Treaty of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Russia-led political alliance of former post-Soviet countries. In 2022 alone, Russia extradited 16 Belarusians accused of 'extremism' — a charge widely used against political opponents of the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. International police organization Interpol has stopped executing politically motivated searches requested by Belarus. However, Belarusians in Russia and most CIS countries can be subject to extradition. Belarus's KGB has added a former EU diplomatic staffer in Belarus, Mikalai Khilo, who has been sentenced to a four-year prison term, to the list of 'individuals involved in terrorist operations.' The updated list was published on April 9 on the KGB's Telegram channel. Khilo, a local staff member of the European Union's diplomatic service, was arrested in December 2024 for 'incitement of hatred and calls for actions harming Belarus's national security' — charges frequently brought against Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko's political opponents. The EU's External Action Service condemned the decision and reiterated calls for Khilo's release. The Viasna Human Rights Center has also designated Khilo as a political prisoner. Created in 2011 to fulfill Belarus's international obligations in combating terrorism, the list of terrorists is now a tool to harass the regime's political opponents in the aftermath of rigged 2020 presidential elections and resulting mass anti-government protests. Currently, 580 of the 1,377 entries on the list are Belarusian citizens, including exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, political activist Pavel Latushka, and jailed protest leader Maria Kalesnikava. The list also includes journalists, human rights advocates and even students. Those listed as 'terrorists' are not permitted to receive money transfers, which deprives them of a major source of support. And for exiled opponents of the regime, being on the list elevates the risk of regime persecution. Nearly 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. Several demonstrative rounds of pardons last year reportedly saw 258 of them set free, but the pardons stalled soon after the January presidential elections, and regime repression continues. According to Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya, 15-20 politically motivated detentions are reported daily in Belarus. Read also: Our readers' questions about the war, answered. Vol. 8 We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lukashenko 'inaugurated' after extending his rule in 'sham' elections
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko began his seventh term in power on March 25 after declaring himself the winner of the January elections broadly seen as neither fair nor free. In his inauguration address at the Independence Palace in Minsk, Lukashenko said that Belarus "has its own standards for holding elections, which can become an international benchmark." The Belarusian Election Commission claimed that Lukashenko "won" 86.82% of the vote on Jan. 26, followed by regime-approved and little-known candidates like Sergey Syrankov with 3.21% or Oleg Gaidukevich with 2.02%. In power since 1994, Lukashenko's dictatorial rule has been marked by a harsh crackdown on political opposition, free media, and civil society. In his speech, the dictator claimed that Belarus ensures everyone's opportunity to express their opinion but "will not allow freedom of speech to be used as a club to destroy our own country." A day before the inauguration, 10 Belarusian human rights groups denounced the January presidential elections and Lukashenko's continued hold on power. The latest vote was "held in a deep human rights crisis, in an atmosphere of total fear caused by repressions against civil society, independent media, the opposition, and all dissenters," the statement read. In 2020, Lukashenko also declared himself the winner despite independent pollsters saying that his opponent, independent candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, won the most votes. The election fraud sparked mass protests, which were followed by a violent crackdown and mass arrests. Lukashenko has been a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, allowing Moscow's forces to use Belarus as a launching ground for the invasion of Kyiv and missile attacks in 2022. Read also: Belarus Weekly: Lukashenko signs security treaty, pulling Belarus further into Russia's orbit We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
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Belarus Weekly: Lukashenko signs security treaty, pulling Belarus further into Russia's orbit
Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko visits Moscow, enacting a security treaty and signing a range of agreements that pull Belarus further into Russia's orbit. U.S. President Donald Trump slashes RFE/RL funding in another blow to Belarusian media in exile. Latvia restricts movement at last open border crossing with Belarus amid migrationconcerns. Japanese citizen sentenced to seven years in Belarus on trumped up charges of spying. Poland and the Baltic states seek to withdraw from the anti-personnel mine ban treaty. Subscribe to the Newsletter Belarus Weekly Join us Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko made a three-day state visit to Moscow that ended on March 15 – his first official visit abroad following his so-called "re-election' in January. The visit also occurred before the Belarusian autocrat was officially inaugurated as the country's head of state. Following talks, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin enacted the Union State treaty, which the sides have dubbed as 'security guarantees.' Signed on Dec. 6, 2024, and ratified in late February, the treaty expands Russia's military presence in Belarus in exchange for the Kremlin opening its 'nuclear umbrella' over Belarus. The treaty is widely seen as ceding Belarus's sovereignty over its defense and foreign policy. Since using Moscow's support to crush mass protests triggered by election fraud in 2020, Lukashenko has been largely cut off from the West, and has increasingly relied on Moscow to keep him in power and to support Belarus's sanctioned economy. Now, deeply dependent on Russia, Belarus is providing logistical and military support for Moscow's war against Ukraine. At least 287 Belarusian enterprises supply the Russian war machine, according to Belarusian democratic leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Addressing the Russian Federation Council, Lukashenko said there had been an erosion of Belarusian sovereignty, adding that Belarus would not formally merge with Russia in the near future. 'If we were to burst through this open door, we would ruin everything we have done. It is necessary to go calmly, step by step,' Lukashenko said. Following his speech, Moscow approved an agreement to delay Belarus's repayment of nearly $800 million in debts. Belarus's total debts to Russia stand at $8 billion. RFE/RL journalist and political analyst Yury Drakakhrust described the highly controlled yet officially still independent Belarus as an example of the Kremlin's desired model for relations with post-Soviet countries — including Ukraine. The Russian and Belarusian dictators also signed an agreement granting rights to Russian and Belarusian citizens permanently residing in each other's territories to vote in local elections, further deepening the integration processes between the two states. Another agreement signed during Lukashenko's visit was dedicated to the mutual protection of citizens 'unjustly persecuted by foreign states or international justice bodies.' The document contains a pledge 'to jointly combat the negative trend of the politicization of international legal cooperation in criminal matters.' The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian human rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 over their involvement in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine. The threat of an ICC warrant is also hanging over Lukashenko after Lithuania referred a case against him to the court in September 2024. Human rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders and the International Accountability Platform for Belarus have also submitted evidence on the regime's alleged crimes. Like Russia, Belarus has abused Interpol's Red Notice mechanism, using it to hunt down the regime's political opponents abroad. Read also: Polish right takes hard line on Ukraine ahead of presidential vote Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko made a three-day state visit to Moscow that ended on March 15 – his first official visit abroad following his so-called "re-election' in January. The visit also occurred before the Belarusian autocrat was officially inaugurated as the country's head of state. Following talks, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin enacted the Union State treaty, which the sides have dubbed as 'security guarantees.' Signed on Dec. 6, 2024, and ratified in late February, the treaty expands Russia's military presence in Belarus in exchange for the Kremlin opening its 'nuclear umbrella' over Belarus. The treaty is widely seen as ceding Belarus's sovereignty over its defense and foreign policy. Since using Moscow's support to crush mass protests triggered by election fraud in 2020, Lukashenko has been largely cut off from the West, and has increasingly relied on Moscow to keep him in power and to support Belarus's sanctioned economy. Now, deeply dependent on Russia, Belarus is providing logistical and military support for Moscow's war against Ukraine. At least 287 Belarusian enterprises supply the Russian war machine, according to Belarusian democratic leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Addressing the Russian Federation Council, Lukashenko said there had been an erosion of Belarusian sovereignty, adding that Belarus would not formally merge with Russia in the near future. 'If we were to burst through this open door, we would ruin everything we have done. It is necessary to go calmly, step by step,' Lukashenko said. Following his speech, Moscow approved an agreement to delay Belarus's repayment of nearly $800 million in debts. Belarus's total debts to Russia stand at $8 billion. RFE/RL journalist and political analyst Yury Drakakhrust described the highly controlled yet officially still independent Belarus as an example of the Kremlin's desired model for relations with post-Soviet countries — including Ukraine. The Russian and Belarusian dictators also signed an agreement granting rights to Russian and Belarusian citizens permanently residing in each other's territories to vote in local elections, further deepening the integration processes between the two states. Another agreement signed during Lukashenko's visit was dedicated to the mutual protection of citizens 'unjustly persecuted by foreign states or international justice bodies.' The document contains a pledge 'to jointly combat the negative trend of the politicization of international legal cooperation in criminal matters.' The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian human rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 over their involvement in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine. The threat of an ICC warrant is also hanging over Lukashenko after Lithuania referred a case against him to the court in September 2024. Human rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders and the International Accountability Platform for Belarus have also submitted evidence on the regime's alleged crimes. Like Russia, Belarus has abused Interpol's Red Notice mechanism, using it to hunt down the regime's political opponents abroad. Seventy years of U.S.-backed broadcasts promoting democracy worldwide may come to an end after U.S. President Donald Trump on March 14 signed an executive order eliminating seven federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees RFE/RL and Voice of America (VoA). For Belarus media in exile, the order serves another major blow to the independent press, which have been outlawed in Belarus and forced into exile. An earlier USAID funding cut in January affected around two-thirds of Belarusian outlets, with about 20% pushed to the brink of closure, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). Trump's executive order put 1,300 VoA employees on administrative leave and terminated the U.S. Congress-authorized grant for RFE/RL. In response, on March 19, RFE/RL filed a lawsuit against USAGM and its officials to block the funding halt. So far, the Belarusian service of RFE/RL continues to operate, although some freelancers have been let go. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said that canceling the organization's funding 'would be a massive gift to America's enemies.' Propagandists in Russia, meanwhile, celebrated the decision. RFE/RL launched its coverage in Belarusian in 1954. Unlike in Ukraine or Russia, the Belarusian service of RFE/RL was never permitted to open an official bureau in Belarus and was never granted FM broadcasting rights. In December 2021, the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko officially deemed the Belarusian service to be an 'extremist organization.' The independent journalism fostered at the Belarusian service of RFE/RL kickstarted the development of the media industry in Belarus — the service's first correspondent on the territory of the then Soviet Belarus, Ales Lipai, later founded the first independent Belarusian news agency, BelaPAN. Beyond being among the few Belarusian-language media, Radio Liberty is the last outlet preserving pre-Soviet spelling and grammar norms, which were later altered to make written Belarusian more similar to Russian. The shutdown of Belarusian Radio Liberty would eliminate this norm from public use. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said losing RFE/RL and VoA would be a 'grave mistake,' calling them 'symbols of the free world.' Former RFE/RL journalists Ihar Karnei and Ihar Losik remain behind bars in Belarus, serving sentences of more than three and 15 years, respectively. Another Belarusian correspondent, Andrei Kuznechyk, was recently freed in a U.S.-brokered prisoner release. Belarusian propaganda aired interviews with the prisoners in an attempt to undermine Radio Liberty's coverage of the 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus. Since strangling popular protests against the rigged 2020 presidential elections, the Lukashenko regime has raided and shut down independent outlets, blocked websites, and jailed 41 journalists and media workers. Thirty-three media workers have been labeled extremists, and 12 have been declared to be 'terrorists.' Donating to or advertising with one of the 38 banned media is punishable by up to five years in prison. About 400 media workers have fled Belarus, relying on foreign grants to keep their newsrooms operating in exile. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said EU foreign ministers discussed the functioning of RFE/RL at a meeting in Brussels on March 17. The bloc cannot automatically fund Radio Free Europe, she said, adding that the EU will look into potential options. Ten European countries backed the proposal to fund RFE/RL, Czech Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvorak announced on March 18. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky did not rule out that the European Union might buy Radio Free Europe from the United States. Read also: EU approves over $2 billion in economic support for Moldova The Latvian government, seeking to prevent the inflow of illegal migrants into the country from Belarus, on March 19 limited traffic across the country's only remaining border crossing with Belarus for motorized vehicles. Similar measures extend to the two checkpoints on the Latvian-Russian border. Belarus orchestrated an artificial migration crisis in 2021 by channeling flows of nearly 8,000 irregular migrants from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to Belarus's borders with the EU. The crisis was reignited with the Kremlin's backing in 2022, prompting Poland and the Baltic states to declare it a "hybrid attack" aimed at destabilizing the region. Latvia's decision prohibits pedestrians and bicycles from crossing the border at Patarnieki-Hryharouschyna, the last operating border post between Latvia and Belarus, for six months. According to Border Guard Chief Guntis Puyats, the possibility of a full shutdown is not ruled out if the irregular migration flow again becomes critical. The Latvian State Border Guard requested that the government approve the partial closure on March 17, following a nine-hour halt of operations at the checkpoint due to the threat of irregular migration. According to Puyats, border officers decided to block all traffic movement on the border after they noticed about 30 migrants, predominantly men aged between 20 and 35, with no visas or residence permits, who were seeking to cross the border. "We understand that this is an instrumentalization of migration," the border guard chief said on air on Latvian TV3. The Belarusian State Border Committee said that the temporary traffic block had been caused by "a group of Africans traveling to the European Union with valid documents," without specifying whether the foreigners actually had visas to enter the EU. Latvia's State Border Guard has stopped 254 illegal border crossing attempts from Belarusian territory since the beginning of 2025. In 2024, according to border guards data aggregated by the independent news outlet Pozirk, there were around 30,000 border crossing attempts — 14% less than in 2023 — with 85% of the attempts occurring on the Polish-Belarusian border. Since the onset of the artificial migration crisis, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have built physical barriers along their land borders with Belarus and shut down several border crossings. The Latvian government is actively discouraging its citizens from traveling to Belarus. Two proposals were submitted to parliament in February to prohibit travel companies from organizing trips to Russia and Belarus and to ban passenger transportation with each of the two countries. After subjecting Japanese citizen Masatoshi Nakanishi to trial on alleged 'undercover activities,' a Belarusian court sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment, the maximum term for the offense, the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Press Office reported on March 17. A key Russian ally, Belarus has intensified the persecution of foreign nationals since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center. At least 19 foreigners have been tried and sentenced in Belarus for 'undercover activities' — a vaguely defined act of 'cooperation' with a wide range of foreign or international entities. The court convicted Nakanishi for allegedly taking over 9,000 photos of civilian and military infrastructure, including military and railway facilities. Belarusian authorities also claimed Nakanishi traveled to the Ukrainian border. The court imposed the maximum possible prison sentence and a fine of around $6,500. According to a documentary aired on Belarusian state-run TV, Nakanishi lives in Homiel, a regional center near Belarus's border with Ukraine, and was officially employed as a Japanese language instructor at the local university. The first news of his arrest was published in September 2024, although he was actually arrested in July 2024. Jailed foreign nationals are often used as bargaining chips by the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In August 2024, Belarus released a German citizen, Rico Krieger, who had been subjected to a swift trial and sentenced to capital punishment on charges including 'undercover activities.' Lukashenko 'pardoned' Krieger and released him as part of a historic East-West prisoner swap in August 2024, assisting Moscow in returning the Russian killer Vadim Krasikov from prison in Germany. In 2022, Swiss-Belarusian dual national Natallia Hersche was released after a year-and-a-half in a Belarusian prison following 'intense efforts' by Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Swiss newspaper Der Bund linked the appointment of a Swiss ambassador to Belarus in February 2022 to the freeing of Hersche. Belarus still holds around 1,200 political prisoners, at least 36 of them foreigners, under a range of politically motivated charges. Estonian citizen Alan Royo was prosecuted for slandering Lukashenko and founding an extremist formation, while Latvian citizen Jurijs Ganins was charged on March 13 with discrediting Belarus, calling for sanctions, and insulting Lukashenko. The defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the EU member states bordering Belarus and Russia, have unanimously recommended that their countries withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning the use of anti-personnel mines. The ministers reasoned that Russia's aggression against Ukraine and its ongoing threats to the Euro-Atlantic community had fundamentally changed the security situation in the region since the ratification of the Ottawa Convention. 'With this decision, we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our territory and freedom,' reads a statement published by Poland's Ministry of National Defense. Despite withdrawing from the convention, the countries say they would uphold their commitments to international humanitarian law, including protecting civilians during armed conflict. The decision still requires approval by the countries' parliaments. While all EU member states have ratified the treaty, Russia and the United States have not. Neither was Russia a signatory of the convention banning cluster munitions, a weapon widely used in the Russia-Ukraine war. Lithuania voted to withdraw from the convention banning the use of cluster munitions earlier in March. The move to withdraw from the anti-personnel mine ban treaty signals a shift in the front-line NATO states' defense policies in the wake of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Both the Kremlin and Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his military officials have in recent years repeatedly used hostile rhetoric in relation to NATO member-states. Read also: Poland, Baltics to withdraw from anti-personnel mine ban treaty We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
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Belarus Weekly: Belarus drops out of the top 20 global arms exporters
Russia proposed building a drone factory in Belarus with an annual capacity of 100,000 units. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko appoints new government ahead of his seventh 'inauguration.' Belarus cracks down on the unemployed amid workforce shortages. UN experts urge Belarus to end the incommunicado detention of political prisoner Siarhei Tsikhanouski, after two years of him being hidden from the public eye. Belarus drops out of the top 20 global arms exporters, SIPRI report finds. Subscribe to the Newsletter Belarus Weekly Join us Russia has proposed to build a drone factory in Belarus capable of producing 100,000 drones every year, the press office of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko reported on March 6. Deputy Head of the Russia Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin made the offer during a meeting with Lukashenko at a military exhibition in Minsk, the press office said. The drones will reportedly be built using Russian licenses. 'It's very important that Belarus has its own (drone) production facilities, which would strengthen both its economy and national security,' Oreshkin said. 'We're ready to build the plant. We guarantee: you wouldn't be able to build it in Russia the way you could build it here,' Lukashenko said in response. The announcement does not specify whether the plant will produce military drones. Yury Kozarenko, a member of the Russian delegation, said that drone production in Belarus could contribute billions to Belarus's GDP, as drones are also used in agriculture, logistics, and education. A staunch Kremlin ally, Lukashenko has repeatedly claimed that Belarus needs to prepare for war and adapt to modern warfare. The Belarusian Defense Ministry reported on Nov. 15, 2024, that it was developing military drones domestically. By the end of 2025, the Belarusian military is expected to have 'a wide range of combat drones,' including a 30-kilometer range 'Chekan-V' and 'Peacemaker' with a reported 10 kilogram warhead and a 100 kilometer range, according to the Head of Application and Development of the Unmanned Aerial Systems department of the Belarusian army, Mikhail Bransky. Currently, Russia uses around 100 to 200 Iranian-developed Shahed-type kamikaze drones in its daily attacks on Ukraine, Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), said on March 3. Russia plans to increase the number of drones and sites from which drones will be launched, he added. Since July 2024, Russian drones have crossed into Belarusian airspace with increasing frequency. Some of them have crashed in the vicinity of residential areas, although so far without causing casualties. Minsk has never publicly objected to Moscow over these incursions, and local authorities tend to conceal incidents and provide no comment. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, not yet officially inaugurated as president following the Jan. 26 sham presidential elections, has appointed a new government, naming Alexander Turchin as the country's new prime minister. Lukashenko began his seventh consecutive term as president amid widespread repressions and in an atmosphere of fear, human rights activists report. The Belarusian autocrat maintained his grip on power by brutally suppressing nationwide protests that engulfed the country following fraudulent 2020 presidential elections. Turchin, the new prime minister, was appointed on March 10, after previously serving as head of the Minsk regional executive committee. He is under EU, U.K., Swiss and Norwegian sanctions over the suppression of mass protests in 2020. Following the appointment, Turchin told reporters that Belarus would not see any 'significant course correction,' adding that his approach would be one of 'evolution without revolutions.' His predecessor, Raman Halouchanka, was transferred to the position of head of the Belarusian National Bank. While announcing the appointment, Lukashenko called for the bank and the government to 'find common ground' in terms of financing the economy. Analysts say the appointment of Halouchanka will weaken the bank's monetary policy, as the former prime minister lacks a background in finance. Lukashenko has previously ordered government interventions in the economy, and was forced to subsidize struggling state-owned enterprises. Inflation risks are mounting, according to Beroc, the country's leading independent economic think tank. In 2024, inflation was reined in to 5.2% with the help of heavy government regulation of consumer goods pricing. If the restrictions were to be relaxed, inflation would accelerate to 6-8%, experts believe. Lukashenko presented the official appointments as the advent of a 'new generation' in Belarusian leadership. However, the government consists largely of the same ministers, except for Uladzimir Karanik, formerly the chairman of one of the Regional Executive Committees, who was appointed deputy prime minister, and Kiryl Zalesky, the former head of the High-Tech Park information technology development initiative, who became minister of informatization. Political analysts do not foresee any real changes, saying that in general, the appointments were an 'old system masquerading as new.' Belarusian authorities are attempting to remedy the country's current labor shortages by targeting the unemployed with a special tax, independent Belarusian media have reported. Belarus in 2015 adopted a Soviet-style decree requiring working-age citizens without formal employment or income to pay an annual fee of about $200. Dubbed 'the tax on parasitism,' the measure sparked mass protests and was suspended in 2017. It came into effect again three years later, replacing the direct tax with the obligation to pay the full cost of household utilities, which are typically subsidized by the government. Currently, the rate is five times higher for those considered 'parasites.' In February 2025, Belarus's Interior Minister Ivan Kubarkov announced raids against 'deadbeats' — the working-age citizens who have not been officially employed for a long time, have no declared income, and don't pay taxes. The announcement followed Lukashenko's claim on Jan. 21 that it was necessary to bring more unemployed people back into the labor market. Throughout the first weeks of March, Belarusians in Minsk were summoned en masse to the employment administration and questioned regarding their sources of income. The exiled Belarusian news outlet Nasha Niva reported that summons were delivered even to those who had left the country decades ago. Belarus is grappling with a serious labor shortages: the state jobs database currently lists 188,700 vacant postings, a significant amount for a nation of 9.5 million with an estimated 4-4.5 million workforce. Healthcare alone faces a shortfall of 10,000 workers. Up to 57% of employers in Belarus reported experiencing a shortages of staff, according to the independent research center The Eurasian Development Bank foresees further wage increases in 2025, fueled by competition over scarce labor. The natural aging of the population in Belarus is being exacerbated by the mass emigration of the most economically and politically active population, the economic think tank Beroc reports. By various accounts, between 300,000 and 500,000 Belarusians have left the country since 2020, after that year's fraudulent elections triggered massive protests and a subsequent crackdown on public protests. At the same time, former political prisoners are not being offered jobs, and workers are being dismissed for supporting an opposition candidate in 2020. On March 3, Lukashenko reiterated his demand that people who participated in protests should not be hired, slamming them as 'the enemies of the state.' Sixteen United Nations human rights experts issued a statement on March 7 demanding that the Belarusian authorities disclose the fate and whereabouts of former presidential candidate and political prisoner Siarhei Tsikhanouski. The jailed activist, who sought to challenge Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections, has been held incommunicado for the past two years. Among Belarus's 1,200 political prisoners, nine leaders of the 2020 pro-democracy movement remain fully isolated from the outside world in what's known as an incommunicado regime. The human rights community considers the regime to be a form of enforced disappearance that amounts to torture. The UN experts, including Chair-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Gabriella Citroni, Special Rapporteur on Belarus Nils Muižnieks, along with other experts, urged Belarus to enable contact to be restored with Tsikhanouski and other opposition leaders, such as Mikalai Statkevich, Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kalesnikava and Maksim Znak. 'The enforced disappearance of Mr. Tsikhanouski and others is a blatant violation of international law,' the experts said. 'These actions seek to silence political opposition and instill fear.' While acknowledging that there had been releases of political prisoners in Belarus recently, the experts noted that these had been selective and came with conditions to cooperate with law enforcement and propaganda. Blogger and entrepreneur Siarhei Tsikhanouski is serving a nineteen-and-a-half year term in prison. Arrested in May 2020, two months before the election, he was charged with obstructing the public's electoral rights, organizing riots, and inciting hatred. While in prison he was given an additional 18-month sentence for allegedly disobeying the penal colony administration. His lawyers and family have not received any information about him since March 2023. Belarus has dropped out of the world's top-20 arms exporters, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published on March 10. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus quickly became a major arms exporter, ranking 11th globally. Between 1999 and 2006, the country reportedly earned an estimated $1 billion by selling off the arsenal it inherited from the collapsed empire, prompting the U.S. Congress to pass a motion, which required annual reporting on Belarusian arms exports. Belarus had remained in the 20th position since 2019 despite a 37% decline in exports. Meanwhile, its arms imports, coming exclusively from Russia, grew by a third. In recent years, Serbia, Vietnam, and Uganda have been the top buyers of Belarusian weapons. Belarusian arms deals have drawn scrutiny, with multiple media investigations conducted into Lukashenko's close circle of businessmen, Alexander Zingman and Oleg Vodchits, for facilitating arms sales to African countries. On March 7, the head of the military government of Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, was in Minsk to discuss arms supplies, the exiled Myanmar Mizzima News Media reported. Belarus backed Russia in its aggression against Ukraine but has abstained from sending its troops to the battlefield. Experts attribute Lukashenko's reluctance to an overwhelming anti-war consensus domestically, which might cause massive unrest in Belarus while not providing much help to Russia on the front line. We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lukashenko invites Trump, Zelensky, Putin to hold talks in Minsk
Minsk is prepared to host the leaders of the United States, Ukraine, and Russia for talks on ending Russia's war against Ukraine, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview on March 4. Lukashenko's remarks follow shortly after the U.S. imposed an immediate freeze on military aid to Ukraine, in a move the White House claimed was meant to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky into entering peace negotiations. In an interview with American internet personality Mario Nawfal that aired on Belarusian state media, Lukashenko said he was willing to help U.S. President Donald Trump achieve his goal of brokering peace between Kyiv and Moscow. "If you want, come here," he said, speaking to Nawfal in Minsk. "It's only 200 kilometers from the Belarusian border to Kyiv. Half an hour by plane. You are welcome to come. We will sit down here. We'll come to an agreement quietly, without noise, without shouting. So tell Trump: I'm waiting for him here, along with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Zelensky. We'll sit down and calmly negotiate. If you want to make a deal." Subscribe to newsletter Belarus Weekly Despite the invitation, Lukashenko stressed that he did not want to act as a mediator between other nations. "Most of all, I hate mediation. It means being between someone and pretending that you can do something," he said. Belarus previously hosted talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2014 and 2015, leading to the Minsk Agreements. The agreements were meant to stop the Donbas war, triggered by Russia's invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014. Russia violated both agreements. Two days before launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin declared that the Minsk Agreements "no longer existed." Zelensky brought up Russia's violation of prior agreements during his Oval Office meeting with Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, in an attempt to explain the importance of concrete security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump and Vance responded by berating Zelensky, accusing him of being ungrateful for U.S. assistance. Days later, the U.S. halted military aid to Ukraine. In a joint address to both chambers of the U.S. Congress on March 4, Trump made little mention of the decision, but said he planned to work with "both sides" to stop the war in Ukraine. Belarus remains a staunch ally of the Kremlin. While it has not committed its own troops to the battlefield in Ukraine, it allowed the Russian military to use its territory and infrastructure extensively during the launch of the full-scale invasion. Zelensky claimed on Feb. 14 that Russia is once again building up troops in Belarus, possibly in preparation for large-scale operations against NATO countries. Read also: Trump cuts to US weapons aid likely to hit Ukrainian civilians before front line We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
