Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko sign a security pact, announcing the potential deployment of Russian Oreshnik missiles in Belarus.
Lukashenko frees 29 more political prisoners amid an ongoing pre-election civil society clampdown.
Exiled Belarusian activists to face a record 17 in absentia charges for aiding opponents of Lukashenko's regime.
The chief editor of the dissolved Belarusian news agency BelaPAN was released after serving full term in prison.
UNESCO adds Belarusian Vytsinanka paper-cutting art to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Putin, Lukashenko sign security treaty, promise Oreshnik deployment in Belarus
Russian President Vladimir Putin and longtime Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko signed a new security treaty on Dec. 6, announcing the potential deployment of Russian Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) in Belarus.
The signing of the treaty comes shortly after Russia introduced updates to its nuclear doctrine, expanding Moscow’s nuclear umbrella over Belarus and lowering the threshold for Russian nuclear retaliation against non-nuclear threats.
Putin went to Minsk on Dec. 6 for a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State, a Moscow-dominated supra-national grouping of Russia and Belarus that Lukashenko has used to obtain economic support for his regime in exchange for political loyalty.
While the text of the signed treaty was not released, Putin said it outlined mutual obligations to ensure the defense and territorial integrity of Russia and Belarus “with the use of all available forces and means,” including nuclear capabilities, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
“This treaty will reliably protect the security of Russia and Belarus,” RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying.
During the signing ceremony for the new agreements, Lukashenko asked Putin to deploy Oreshnik ballistic missiles, a new weapon recently used against Ukraine, in Belarus.
“Do not take this as some kind of audacity, but I want to publicly ask you to deploy new weapons systems, especially the Oreshnik, on Belarusian territory,” Lukashenko said.
Putin in turn said the deployment of Oreshnik missiles would be “possible” by the second half of 2025.
Oreshnik, Russia’s new intermediate-range ballistic missile, was first used against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Nov. 21, after Kyiv’s first successful use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles on a military target in Russia.
Lukashenko said that Belarus would build its own launchers for Oreshnik missiles, and also reiterated his claims that Belarus already hosts Russian tactical nuclear weapons.
“I have brought nuclear warheads here, and not just a single dozen of them,” Lukashenko said during the meeting with Belarusian workers on Dec. 10.
Since Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on transferring Russian nuclear warheads to Belarus in May 2023, both sides have repeatedly claimed the transfer was made, but have never substantiated their claims.
U.S. think tank the Institute for the Study of War considers the treaty and potential deployment of Oreshnik missiles to be part of Russia’s “strategic effort to de facto annex Belarus.” It would “further increase Russia’s military footprint in Belarus,” the ISW report reads.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya condemned the new pact: “Putin’s visit to Minsk is not about security — it’s about tightening Russia’s grip on our country,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The opposition group BelPol claimed the treaty might allow Moscow to place new military bases and deploy troops in Belarus. It would also provide the possibility of sending Belarusian citizens to war with Ukraine “to protect the territorial integrity of Russia,” the group’s representative Matsvey Kupreichyk alleged during a U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe hearing on Dec. 5.
Among other documents, Putin and Lukashenko signed a decree on uniform rules on consumer rights protection, a resolution on the cancellation of cell phone roaming charges, and an agreement on a common electrical energy market.
The Union State agreement, signed 25 years ago, envisaged the integration of Russia and Belarus to the point of a shared currency, parliament, and border agreement. But as Lukashenko lost hope of eventually becoming the leader of the Union State, he managed for decades to wander off the integration roadmaps — until he needed the Kremlin’s backing against a popular uprising in Belarus prompted by his regime’s rigging of the 2020 presidential elections.
In 2021, a number of Union State integration roadmaps were finally signed, sparking concerns over Belarus’s sovereignty. Furthermore, Lukashenko welcomed Russian tactical nuclear weapons and turned Belarusian territory into a jumping off point for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
29 more political prisoners pardoned in Belarus amid continued crackdown
Lukashenko has “pardoned” 29 more prisoners convicted of “extremist crimes,” his press office reported on Dec. 9.
This seventh wave of pardons brings the total number of political prisoners released since July 2024 to 207 individuals, while another 220 individuals were newly recognized as such, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center.
An official statement from Lukashenko’s regime says that 11 women and 18 men were among the released, without specifying their names. Reportedly, 15 of them have chronic diseases, two are with disabilities, and three are elderly.
All of the pardoned prisoners “repented” and pleaded for pardons, the press office said, noting that pardoned Belarusians are still monitored by the Internal Affairs Ministry.
Human rights groups currently recognize 1,283 individuals in Belarus as political prisoners. Most were jailed after the contested 2020 presidential elections in Belarus sparked nationwide public protests, and the authorities launched an unprecedented crackdown on civil society.
Despite the number of political prisoners remaining roughly the same, the Belarusian authorities have not eased their repression of the country’s civil society. At least 1,302 political prisoners have served their term in full and were removed from the count. The total number of former political prisoners, some of whom escaped prosecution, reached 2,392 in November 2024.
The Belarusian service of U.S. government-backed broadcaster RFE/RL reported that at least one “pardoned” prisoner had been arrested again. Other cases of repeated arrests have been observed among those who had served their sentences and been released, the outlet reports.
Arbitrary repression of political opponents has intensified in Belarus in the run-up to the 2025 presidential elections, the Viasna says. In late October, the Lukashenko regime unleashed a series of countrywide raids targeting former political prisoners and relatives of those arrested as part of an intimidation campaign.
Founders of two major foundations to be tried in absentia on record 17 charges
The Belarusian Investigative Committee has launched an in absentia probe into the exiled founders of two biggest Belarusian solidarity initiatives, BySol and By help, which provide aid to victims of Belarus’s repressive authorities.
The committee’s press office reported on Dec. 5 that investigations had been opened into Andrey Stryzhak and Aliaksei Lyavonchyk, who co-founded the Belarus Solidarity Foundation BySol and By help in response to the ruling regime’s brutal crackdown on civil society in Belarus.
The two organizations have raised and distributed millions of dollars to those who have suffered torture, been subjected to politically motivated persecution, or who had to flee the country in fear of persecution. In 2021, the Belarusian Internal Affairs Ministry designated the two initiatives as “extremist” and prohibited their work within the country.
The human rights activists are being probed under 17 charges each, which is the largest number of charges pressed on defendants in absentia so far. The investigation brought up charges of creating and financing extremist formations, insulting Belarusian dictator Lukashenko, inciting racial, national, or religious hatred, and propagandizing terrorism.
Citing calculations by Viasna attorney Pavel Sapelka, Stryzhak claimed that the total sentence handed down to him by the Belarusian courts might reach 128 years of imprisonment.
“It’s nice when even your enemies acknowledge the importance of what you do,” Stryzhak commented ironically.
Lukashenko introduced in absentia prosecution in 2022 as a repressive tool to target his exiled opponents. By November 2024, some 112 opposition figures had been given prison sentences after absentia trials, Viasna reports.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison; her advisors Aliaksandr Dabravolski and Franak Viachorka received 11.5 and 20-year prison terms respectively.
Aside from virtual prison terms, an absentia sentence typically comes with a fine, providing for the arrest of the convict’s property — which is later auctioned to pay the penalty.
Chief editor of largest independent news agency released after serving term
Iryna Leushyna, the director and chief editor of BelaPAN — formerly the largest independent news agency in Belarus, which the country’s authorities had declared “extremist” and dissolved in 2021, was released from prison on Dec. 7 after serving her sentence in full.
Leushyna was arrested on Aug. 18, 2021, along with her colleague, former director Dzmitry Navazhylau, amid the crackdown on independent journalism in Belarus that wiped the media field over the past four years.
Leushyna was sentenced to four years of imprisonment over the alleged “creation of an extremist formation.” The charge was applied retroactively, as the agency had been slapped with an “extremist” label in November, almost three months after the arrest of its leadership.
Navazhylau received six years of imprisonment with additional charges of tax evasion. Media management consultant Andrei Aliaksandrau and his wife, entrepreneur Iryna Zlobina, accused in the same case and also with additional charges, received 14 and nine years of imprisonment respectively.
In her final statement at her trial, Leushyna described the sentence as “utter delirium.”
“(Somebody) clearly confused the cause-and-effect relationship by deciding to make journalists responsible for events in our country in 2020,” Leushyna said.
Human rights watchdog Viasna has changed Leushyna’s status to “former political prisoner,” marking her release. Leushyna confirmed her release in a post on Facebook but refused to comment further.
“I plan to stay in Belarus, so, naturally, no comments are possible,” she wrote.
As the majority of the independent Belarusian media are designated extremist by the Lukashenko regime, giving interviews to them can make one liable for criminal prosecution. Earlier, activist Darya Losik was sentenced to two years in prison for giving an interview to the Belarusian service of U.S. broadcaster RFE/RL.
Leushyna is now one of 1,302 political prisoners who have been released after serving their arbitrary punishment in full since the 2020 presidential election. The rigged poll prompted massive public unrest in Belarus.
With 38 media workers in prison, Belarus remains ranked 167th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. The independent Belarusian Association of Journalists reports that 450-500 media professionals have been forced to flee the country.
UNESCO adds Belarusian paper-cutting art to Intangible Cultural Heritage list
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added Belarusian Vytsinanka, the traditional art of cutting out paper decorations, to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the organization announced on Dec. 4.
The UNESCO’s Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage opened its 19th session in Paraguay on Dec. 2, adding Vytsinanka to the previous three entries accredited to Belarus on the list.
The art of Vytsinanka has been recorded in Belarus since the 16th century, with the advent of paper production. Initially used to decorate church interiors and seal noble families’ correspondence, it gained prominence in the late 19th century as an affordable home decoration for the biggest holidays — Christmas and Easter.
The works are typically symmetrical or radial compositions featuring mythological motifs, traditional ornaments, and scenes from daily life.
The 19th UNESCO Committee session also added Pysanky, the art of Easter egg decoration, an internationally recognized symbol of Ukrainian culture, to its list.
