In an interview with Russian state TV, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claims he deployed a third of his army to Ukraine's border earlier this year.
Lukashenko pardons 30 Belarusian political prisoners, while another 1,400 remain behind bars on politically motivated charges.
Lithuania builds a military base for 4,000 German troops near Belarusian border, holds joint drills.
Ukrainian parliament passes bill easing the process of obtaining documents for foreign volunteers defending Ukraine, potentially giving Belarusian fighters a way out of a legal limbo.
Swiss authorities sanction 27 Belarusians involved in repression and propaganda.
Lukashenko claims he deployed a third of Belarus’ army next to Ukraine’s border
Belarus moved a third of its army to the border with Ukraine earlier in the summer, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview on Aug. 15.
Speaking to the Rossiya TV channel, Lukashenko claimed it was in response to a build-up of Ukrainian troops that had been prompted by a misinterpretation of preparations for Belarus's Independence Day celebrations on July 3.
Lukashenko claims that in the lead-up to the event, large numbers of men and materiel were moved from positions both inside Belarus and Russia in order to take part in the event.
The Belarusian dictator claims Kyiv and its Western allies interpreted this as a possible redeployment for a repeated Russian invasion similar to the one Moscow's forces launched in February 2022 from Belarus.
He claimed that Ukraine moved 120,000 troops on the border with Belarus which were then "boosted" with even more troops.
“In response, I had to redeploy almost a third of the army to reinforce the border,” Lukashenko.
Belarus has approximately 48,000 troops, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance 2022 report. The number rises to 63,000 if civilians involved in providing support services for the army are included, according to the Global Firepower Ranking of world militaries.
Depending on the number used, a third would constitute 14,000 to 20,000 troops, which would be a significant buildup, resulting in a force comparable in size to the Russian attack group that attempted to seize Kyiv in February 2022.
Lukashenko said he later managed to speak to Ukrainian officials through special channels, and the situation was resolved diplomatically. As a result, the additional troops that were allegedly deployed during the escalation were pulled back from both sides.
However, Ukrainian State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko dismissed Lukashenko’s claims as “aggressive statements that do not correspond to reality.” Demchenko told Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda on Aug. 18 that no increase in equipment or personnel had been observed.
The rest of the interview was even more hostile in tone, with Lukashenko once again fully backing Russia and Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, accusing “high ranking” people “of American origin” of stoking the war with the aim of destroying all three countries.
Lukashenko's interview aired after Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. After crossing into the Russian oblast on Aug. 6, by Aug. 19, Ukraine said it controlled 92 settlements in the region.
As the Ukrainian army operation unfolded in Kursk, Lukashenko said on Aug. 10 that Belarusian forces had downed several aerial targets from Ukraine the previous night and called the incident “a Ukrainian provocation.” However, Belarusian Hajun, an open-source intelligence project, described Lukashenko’s statement as “nonsense.”
The Belarusian military also reported deploying additional air defense troops and aircraft to its border with Ukraine.
Abbey Fenbert
Lukashenko pardons 30 political prisoners, another 1,400 still behind bars
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has signed pardons for 30 prisoners convicted of “protest offenses,” his press office reported on Aug. 16.
The report states, without providing the names of the prisoners, that 14 women and 16 men had been pardoned. The list reportedly includes some elderly people and individuals with serious diseases. According to the press office, all of the released individuals pleaded guilty and repented in exchange for their pardons.
Belarusian democratic opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhankouskaya welcomed the freeing of the 30 prisoners, but promised to keep fighting for the release of the 1,400 people that the Lukashenko regime has jailed on politically motivated grounds.
The Viasna Human Rights Center confirmed on Aug. 20 the release of seven of the political prisoners, but did not name them for security reasons.
State-owned Belarusian TV broadcaster aired “interviews” with five of the released prisoners. One of them, Kseniya Lutskina, a former journalist of the broadcaster who joined the protests against the rigged Belarusian presidential election in 2020, resigned, and joined the opposition, was sentenced to eight years for allegedly “plotting to seize power.”
She was included in the opposition’s humanitarian list due to having a brain tumor.
Two of the other released prisoners have been named as Iryna Sankouskaya, sentenced to one-and-a-half years for insulting Lukashenko, and Volha Novikava, convicted of participating in the protests against the rigged presidential election and branded an extremist by the Lukashenko regime.
Without naming them, Belarusian state television footage also showed two more of the released prisoners, who had been charged with insulting the dictator Lukashenko. They were Ala Zuyeva, who had been sentenced to two-and-a-half years, and Volha Stabrouskaya, whose sentence was just over a year.
Early in July, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported the release of 18 political prisoners, including Ryhor Kastusiou, the leader of the pro-democracy Belarusian Popular Front party, and Darya Losik, the wife of blogger and RFE/RL correspondent Ihar Losik, also in prison.
Following the prisoner releases, human rights advocates and Belarusian media independently recorded cases of political prisoners in Belarusian penal colonies being coerced into writing pleas for pardons.
Human rights activists from one Viasna regional branch said on Aug. 13 that they had received information about 12 more prisoners being released in early August, but also said they needed further confirmation.
It remains unclear whether the count of 30 prisoners provided by Lukashenko’s press office referred to the combined number of those released in July with the latest releases.
“Strategically, the situation with political prisoners in Belarus remains unchanged,” Andrei Stryzhak, the head of the Bysol charity, which assists Belarusian political prisoners and their families, wrote on X in response to the news. Stryzhak said more people were still being imprisoned on political grounds than released every month.
Nate Ostiller
Lithuania begins construction of military base for 4,000 German troops next to its border with Belarus, holds joint drills
Lithuania on Aug. 19 launched the construction of a military base next to its border with Belarus that is to house up to 4,000 combat-ready German troops.
The new base, which has an estimated cost of over 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion), will cover 170 hectares near Rudninkai, a town near Vilnius, 20 kilometers from the border with Belarus, Russia’s closest ally.
Lithuania also has a 227-kilometer (141-mile) border with Russia, on the northern and eastern sides of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which is approximately 180 kilometers from the new base.
The base will house 4,000 troops – most of the contingent of German forces in Lithuania. A thousand other German troops will be stationed elsewhere in Lithuania.
Lithuania’s Army Chief General Raimundas Vaikšnoras described the base as one of the biggest projects in the history of modern Lithuania, and said that the basing of the German troops close to the border would serve as a major deterrence factor.
On Aug. 19, the Lithuanian Army announced that the 21st Bundeswehr High Vigilance Brigade had transferred 650 units of equipment to Lithuania for the Grand Eagle-2/24 military drills, which will practice the rapid transfer of German military units to Lithuania to protect NATO’s eastern flank. The drills are scheduled to start on Sept. 8.
Germany committed to permanently deploying 5,000 troops to Lithuania on Dec. 18, 2023, in a historic agreement with Vilnius that envisaged the first permanent deployment of German troops abroad since the end of World War II.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius likened the decision to the deployment of allied forces in West Germany during the Cold War with the aim of defending Western Europe against a potential Soviet attack.
In an interview with Russian state-owned TV channel Rossiya, Lukashenko continued his hostile rhetoric against neighboring EU member states. When asked about NATO troops being stationed close to Belarus’ western border, Lukashenko said his country’s borders with Lithuania and Poland are protected by Belarusian defensive positions.
“We (together with Vladimir Putin) have defensive plans in place, and if we need to, we’ll switch them to offensive plans as well,” Lukashenko added.
Belarus, a staunch ally of the Kremlin, has not committed its troops to the battlefield but provided Russia with extensive support for its war against Ukraine: Russian troops used Belarusian territory as a jumping-off point for their attempted assault on Kyiv in February 2022.
Belarus has also provided Russia with weapons and aids Russia in circumventing Western sanctions.
Ukraine’s parliament approves bill simplifying legalization of foreign volunteer fighters in Ukraine
A bill simplifying the process for granting residence permits and Ukrainian citizenship to foreign volunteer fighters defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity has passed its second reading in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, European Solidarity Party MP Iryna Herashchenko reported on Aug. 20.
The bill, passed with 315 votes in favor out of 423 sitting MPs, allows foreign and stateless volunteers within the ranks of the Ukrainian army to acquire residence permits or citizenship even if their documents have expired. Their family members would also be entitled to temporary residence permits.
The clause allowing fighters with expired passports to apply is especially significant for Belarusians. In November 2023, Lukashenko banned Belarusian embassies from issuing new passports abroad.
Belarusian and Russian citizens receiving Ukrainian citizenship for defending Ukraine against Russian aggression will be required to renounce their foreign citizenship within a year after the lifting of martial law. New Ukrainian citizens will be allowed to take citizenship exams within two years of martial law being lifted.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced the bill to simplify the legalization procedures on July 16.
Hundreds of Belarusians have joined the Ukrainian army since 2014. According to Andrei Kushnerov, the co-founder of the Association of Belarusian Volunteers, approximately 1,300 Belarusians have joined since 2014. Sixty of them have been killed in action.
In Belarus, volunteer fighters risk imprisonment, and the regime of Lukashenko harasses their families.
Moreover, in Ukraine, they also find themselves in a legal limbo as soon as they are discharged from service. Unable to obtain residence permits under the current legislation, Belarusians have to seek refuge elsewhere.
However, EU member states are reluctant to provide asylum to former combatants, according to the Association of Belarusian Volunteers.
Switzerland sanctions 27 Belarusians involved in human rights abuses
Switzerland has sanctioned 27 individuals involved in the repression of civil society in Belarus and working for Lukashenko’s propaganda machine, the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs reported on Aug. 14.
The sanctions largely mirror those introduced earlier by the European Union. The list of persons sanctioned includes 13 judges responsible for handing down politically motivated sentences, and five prison chiefs.
Also sanctioned are law enforcement officials, including the head of the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK) Andrei Ananenka, his deputies, and the head of the Department of Public Prosecution, Mikhail Kavaliou.
Belarusian propagandists were sanctioned as well. They included state news agency BelTA Director Iryna Akulovich, the editor-in-chief of “Belarus Today” and former head of the press service of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko Dzmitry Zhuk, ONT television channel correspondent Aliaksei Kryakvin, and chairman of the Youth Council of the National Assembly Mikita Rachilousky.
Western states including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on Aug. 9 introduced fresh sanctions against the Lukashenko regime and Belarusian military-related companies. The announcement of the new sanctions coincided with the fourth anniversary of the rigged 2020 Belarusian presidential elections that sparked the ongoing political crisis in the country.
Over the past four years, more than 3,000 Belarusians have been designated as political prisoners by human rights activists. Over 1,700 non-profit organizations in the civil sector, and nearly all independent media had to shut down.
