Minsk summons EU, Ukrainian diplomats, and addresses UN, OSCE over alleged drone incursion from Ukraine.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko pushes a bill to criminalize violence and threats against incumbent or former presidents of Belarus, unauthorized reports on movements of the Belarusian military.
The U.S., and allies impose new sanctions against Lukashenko and his regime on the fourth anniversary of protests against the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections in Belarus.
A 63-year-old Belarusian woman is sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for giving financial aid to political prisoners.
A new study reports a record-high number of politically motivated cases in Belarus over the last four years, and predicts increasing pressure on dissent ahead of the 2025 presidential elections.
Minsk summons EU and Ukrainian diplomats, says it’s strengthening border defenses amid allegations that Ukrainian drones violated country’s airspace
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned EU and Ukrainian diplomats after claiming Ukrainian drones entered Belarus on Aug. 9 and were allegedly downed by the Belarusian military.
The ministry summoned Charge d’Affaires of the European Union to Belarus Steen Noerlov, on Aug. 12. The diplomat was warned of the potential for a “radical escalation” and was called on “to influence Ukrainian leadership” not to make “provocations.” The Belarusian Foreign Ministry also claimed that a number of parts of the downed drones bore markings of EU manufacturers.
Earlier, on Aug. 10, Ukraine’s Charge d’Affaires to Belarus Olha Tymush was given a “strong warning” that Ukraine should not commit “provocations.” “If the diplomatic mission of Ukraine in Belarus is unable to influence the prevention of such provocations, the Belarusian side will question the necessity of its continued diplomatic presence in Minsk,” the Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta reported, quoting the ministry.
Belarus also sent appeals to the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (currently Sierra Leone) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe concerning the alleged incident, according to an official statement published by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Aug. 13.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Heorhiy Tykhiy said there was no “special expediency” for Ukraine to respond to these statements, as “the Belarusian side is known for making many statements that are not worth responding to.”
The Kyiv Independent news desk
“The creation of imaginary threats from Ukraine, however intense, does not make these threats more real,” Tykhiy said.
Belarusian dictator Alexander 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.” The drones were reportedly detected at least 85 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.
However, Belarusian Hajun, an open-source intelligence project, Lukashenko’s statement was “nonsense.”
“According to the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun, on Aug. 9, 2024, during flights of the Belarusian Armed Forces, no drones (UAVs) were detected,” the group reported on Telegram.
Lukashenko proposes to criminalize threats against president, unauthorized dissemination of information about the military
Lukashenko has proposed to criminalize threatening or subjecting to violence any incumbent or former Belarusian president, as well as the “unauthorized” release of information about military units, according to a bill published on Aug. 12.
The bill suggests sentences up to eight years in prison for subjecting to violence or threatening current or former presidents. The punishment already on the books of up to seven years in prison for defaming or insulting the president is to be extended to include committing such offenses against former presidents as well.
The bill comes against the backdrop of Lukashenko’s own conflicting statements about his plans to run for president in 2025. During a working trip to Belarus’ eastern Mahiliou region, Lukashenko discussed his future plans while speaking to local residents. “You should get used to the fact (…) that there will be a different president,” Lukashenko told a woman who asked him to run for yet another term. However, he added that his departure from the post “won’t happen tomorrow or the day after.”
Lukashenko first expressed his intention to run for president again on Feb. 25. However, he soon backtracked, saying on March 5 that he had been misunderstood.
The Belarusian dictator is known for contradicting himself when it comes to talking about staying in power. Prior to the contested presidential elections in 2020, he insisted that he would not hold onto power “with blue fingers.” However, as protests spread across the country in August 2020, Lukashenko famously said, “Until you kill me, there will be no other elections.”
Among other measures, the bill also criminalizes the “unauthorized dissemination of information” regarding the dislocation and movement of Belarusian military units. Unless such movements are reported by the official channels, spreading such information during a counter-terrorist operation, state of emergency, or martial law would be punishable by up to three years in prison, the bill reads. The same actions committed by a group of people would be punished by a six-year prison term.
As of Feb. 23, at least 37 people have been convicted for sharing photos and videos of the Russian military in Belarus with the media, according to the Viasna Human Rights Group.
Maria Yeryoma
US, Canada, UK, EU hit Belarus with new sanctions on anniversary of 2020 protests
Marking the fourth anniversary of the contested presidential elections that sparked an enduring political crisis in Belarus, Western states, including the United States, Canada, and the U.K., on Aug. 9 introduced new sanctions against the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and Belarusian military-related companies.
The U.S. sanctioned 19 individuals and 14 companies involved in supporting Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine, evading sanctions, and generating revenue for Lukashenko and his inner circle.
U.S. Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said in a statement that the sanctions were a response to Lukashenko’s “blatantly corrupt, destabilizing, and anti-democratic acts – along with its continued support for Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
The new restrictions target Lukashenko’s presidential plane – a Boeing 767-32K(ER) with the registration EW-001PB. It joins two other aircraft sanctioned in 2023, and which are now barred from undergoing maintenance by official Boeing service providers.
The sanctions also target dual-purpose goods supplier LLC Laboratory of Additive Technologies (LAT), engineering company Ruchservomotor, and five other entities that have been determined to be a sanction evasion network for optoelectronic producer Peleng JSC (Peleng) – a major supplier for the Russian war machine.
Two Belarusian cargo airline companies, Aviakompania Rada and UE RubiStar, Washington said, would be sanctioned for transporting Russian Wagner Group mercenaries to and from Africa.
Also, the UK slapped sanctions on the heads of four Belarusian penal colonies that hold political opponents of the Lukashenko regime. The UK also imposed sanctions on machine tool manufacturers StankoGomel OJSC and Ruchservomotor for supplying the Russian military-industrial sector, along with JSC NIIEVM, a subsidiary of the Belarusian government, which operates in the country’s defense sector.
“Together, these actions signal the international community’s continuing solidarity with the Belarusian people in their struggle for a free, democratic, and sovereign Belarus,” reads a U.S. Treasury Department.
Kateryna Hodunova
63-year-old woman sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for helping political prisoners
Brest Regional Court has handed down a three-and-a-half year prison term to Natallia Malets, a retired woman who sent money transfers to Belarusian political prisoners, the Dissident Human Rights Initiative reported on Aug. 12.
Malets was convicted of aiding extremist activities on Aug. 8. The investigators stated that she had made at least 125 money transfers to 114 Belarusians totaling 1,500 Belarusian rubles (roughly $470).
According to law enforcers, Malets has also been involved in a closed Facebook group called “Letters of Solidarity Belarus 2020,” which authorities have declared to be an “extremist formation.”
In January 2023, Malets was convicted of insulting a government official and placed under home confinement for a year-and-a-half. In September of the same year, she was arrested again in a new criminal case. The Viasna Human Rights Center called her a political prisoner in October 2023.
Letters and money transfers are one of the few ways to support the nearly 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus. The funds are placed in special prisoners’ accounts, and can be used to purchase hygiene products and food in prison shops.
Transfers to political opponents of the regime who have been declared to be “terrorists” are prohibited, as this entails committing the crime of “financing terrorism.”
Currently, the notorious Belarusian security agency the KGB lists 459 Belarusian citizens as terrorists.
Sociologist: Number of politically motivated criminal cases hits record high in Belarus in second quarter of 2024
The second quarter of 2024 saw 452 politically motivated criminal cases launched in Belarus – a record high in the four years since the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections, a study called “Barometer of repression in Belarus” indicates.
The study’s author, Hennadz Korshunau, the former director of Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Sociology and senior researcher of the Center for New Ideas (CNI) think tank, said that repressions in Belarus will likely continue at least until the end of the 2025 election campaign.
According to Korshunau, the criminal prosecution of Belarusians comes in waves, with the current uptick beginning in early 2024.
The first wave was observed in the third quarter of 2021, with at least 356 cases. The second wave peaked in the third quarter of 2023, with 446 cases, the researcher stated.
According to data included in the report from the Viasna Human Rights Center, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Initiative, Lawtrend, Human Constanta, and Dissident, the number of newly recognized political prisoners was 80% greater than that of the previous quarter, jumping from 99 to 178. The previous record came at the end of 2021, when over 100 were recognized as being added to the list of political prisoners within a month.
In the second quarter of 2024, the Belarusian courts branded a record number of independent media and other content providers as “extremist,” with over 350 trials being held, as opposed to the average of 170 per quarter. The Belarusian Republican List of Extremist Materials currently has over 4,300 entries, featuring content from independent media, social media pages, books, and Telegram chats.
On the anniversary of the fraudulent presidential elections in 2020, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported that during the four years of the authorities’ crackdown on dissent, the country has seen the detention of over 65,000 Belarusian citizens. At least 6,971 of them became defendants in criminal cases.
The number of recognized political prisoners has risen from 25 in early August 2020 to the current number of 1,385. Moreover, human rights activists claim that the real number is significantly higher.
