Belarus Review by iSANS — February 19, 2024 

Belarus Review (2024 edition, issue 07)

A weekly update on the ongoing political crisis in the Republic of Belarus was prepared for you by the International Strategic Action Network for Security (iSANS).

On February 12, a resolution of the Security Council was signed, approving the drafts of the National Security Concept and the Military Doctrine of Belarus. According to the resolution, the Defense Ministry should finalize the draft Military Doctrine considering the comments of the Security Council members. In the future, both documents will be submitted to the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly for approval.
 
From February 13 to 14, command and staff training with the territorial defense authorities of Minsk took place under the command of the Chief of the Department for Territorial Defense of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus.
 
On February 14, Belarusian servicemen who had been trained at the 333^rd Combat Training Center of the Armed Forces of Russia, returned to Belarus. Upon completion of the training, they received instructor certificates. In the future, the servicemen will act as instructors to pass on the gained experience to the units of the Armed Forces of Belarus. The practice of training instructors for the Armed Forces of Belarus will continue in Russia.
 
On February 15, the “counter-terrorist operation” regime was introduced in Lelchitsy (about 10 km from the border with Ukraine). The local authorities stated that the Lelchitsy district was the site of an exercise. However, when the “counter-terrorist operation” regime was introduced, the local authorities even by law cannot know what is going on – everything that happens is controlled by the law enforcement agencies. At the same time, in the morning of February 15, helicopters flew from Minsk to Lelchitsy, bringing servicemen of the internal troops and the Armed Forces of Belarus. Judging by the actions of the law enforcers, as well as the public communication, it did not look like a classical exercise and the situation was most likely an emergency situation. On February 16, Lukashenka said that a sabotage and reconnaissance group had been detained in Lelchitsy district. A total of two citizens of Ukraine and one citizen of Belarus were detained. According to official information, the sabotage and reconnaissance group was supposed to allegedly deliver explosive devices to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia and Belarus on the instructions of the Ukrainian security services. According to the media, the detainees were under investigation in Ukraine for smuggling of narcotic substances. Everything points to another information provocation by the security services of the Lukashenka regime on the eve of the elections in Belarus.
 
On February 16, a conference on flight safety of the Air Forces of Belarus took place at the command of the Air Forces and Air Defense Forces of Belarus. Representatives of the Air Forces of Russia attended the conference.
 
On February 17, it became known that the Deputy Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics of Iran (MODAFL) Seyed Ghalandari was on a working visit in Minsk. In the course of a meeting with the Head of the Department for International Military Cooperation issues of bilateral cooperation and the upcoming negotiations in the format of the Shanghai Organization for Cooperation were discussed.
 
The 202^nd mechanized battalion of the 6^th separate mechanized brigade continued training with the mercenaries of the PMC Wagner at the Obuz-Lesnovsky military training ground. The soldiers of the mechanized battalion were trained in combat in urban conditions. They also practiced assaulting and defending the rear and fighting in a trench.
 
Servicemen from one of the mechanized battalions of the 11^th Mechanized Brigade are training at the “resistance node of the Kobrin fortified area” near the village of Saki, Zhabinka district. The servicemen practiced active defense of held positions using artillery and unmanned aerial vehicles. Earlier, similar exercises were held with one of the units of the 6^th Mechanized Brigade.
 
From September 1, 2024, a course of initial military training will be taught to all students in Belarusian institutions of higher education.

On February 12, it was announced that the Belarusian potash company Belaruskali continues to fight a legal case against Lithuania in court. Belaruskali claims in court that Lithuania illegally broke the existing contract with Lithuanian Railways on the transit of potash fertilizers and because of that Belaruskali has suffered tremendous losses. It claims EUR 1 billion from the state of Lithuania (without interest and legal fees). An arbitration process started in Lithuania because of the complaint of the Belarusian enterprise. The process will continue under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Arbitration Rules of 1976, and it will be confidential.

Last week, the policies of tightening restrictions on the issuance of visas and residence permits for Russian and Belarusian citizens continued in several EU countries. Lithuania is considering implementing the rule that the residence permits of Russian and Belarusian citizens could be revoked if they travel to their countries of origin more than once per month throughout the year. The proposal was made by the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for National Defense and Security Laurynas Kasciunas. Moreover, the politician claims that he will register a law amendment prohibiting Russian and Belarusian citizens with permanent residence permits to vote and be candidates at the local elections in Lithuania. Czech Foreign Ministry proposed that a current ban on the issuance of visas and residence permits to Russian and Belarusian citizens should be extended indefinitely, considering the invasion of Ukraine. The ministry stated that the current government regulation, valid until March 31, should be replaced with a new one without a specific deadline. Exceptions apply for humanitarian reasons.

On February 14, the Raiffeisenbank International announced that it was in advanced negotiations to sell its 87.74% stake in Belarus’s Priorbank JSC and its subsidiaries to Soven 1 Holding Limited, potentially resulting in a group-level loss as the bank aims to exit the Belarusian market.

On February 14, it became known that the thirteenth sanctions package of the EU, which is due on February 24, as a symbolic act and a signal on the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, will include only six Belarusian individuals and three defense industry companies. The proposal is to include the Aviation Industry Complex of Orsha and its director, citizen of Belarus Pavel Sluchak, and the Radio-Electronic Repair Factory of Barysau and its director Valery Shatsila. It is also proposed to impose sanctions against Aliaksei Talai, who is the main actor in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children from Russia-occupied territories to Belarus, and his foundation. Also, the Head of the Belarusian Red Cross Dzmitry Shevtsov is on the list.

Last week, the leader of the Belarusian democratic forces and the Head of the United Transitional Cabinet Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya attended the Munich Security Conference. She delivered a speech at the Munich Cyber Security Conference, which brought together more than 700 experts, politicians, and representatives of the technology sector. She emphasized the role of technology during the 2020 protests in Belarus and addressed the tech companies present at the conference, calling on them to support Belarusian civil society and media. At the same time, Tsikhanouskaya participated in a side event on Belarus during the Munich Conference, organized by iSANS, and claimed that there was no better place to speak about Belarus and on security and the future of Europe than in Munich. While in Munich, the news about Navalny’s death reached all the participants. Tsikhanouskaya commented on this tragic event stating that his death “is a piece of further evidence that human life means nothing to dictators. The Putin regime, like the Lukashenka regime, seeks to maintain power by getting rid of opponents by any means necessary.” After the news about Alexey Navalny’s death in prison, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the wife of Navalny Yulia and expressed her deepest condolences. The meeting was held in a confidential format. While speaking at the “Safeguarding Democracy: How to Confront Information Manipulation” event co-organized by GLOBSEC, Tsikhanouskaya said the news of Navalny’s death shocked her and that she cannot even think that her husband might be the next. She underlined that Navalny’s “murder is a dark reminder that security, democracy, and human rights are interconnected. If the government doesn’t respect its citizens, it won’t respect international order, and vice versa”.

According to the new law “On сitizenship”, which came into force in July 2023, Belarusians have to inform the authorities about a foreign residence permit, another citizenship, or a Pole’s card. The authorities have been taking a number of steps to suppress the desire of Belarusian citizens to receive a Pole’s card. Among other steps, they undertake efforts to convince people that this document is harmful to the national security of Belarus. Besides, the possession of a Pole’s card or a refusal to “hand it over” may become the basis for termination of an employment contract or its non-renewal. Another notable tendency is that village councils started to refuse to issue certificates and archival copies of documents confirming the Polish nationality of applicants’ ancestors, referring to “internal instructions”, although this violates the law. In a private conversation, they admit that they refuse to issue the documents because they “don’t want to go to prison.” There were cases when parents refused to give their children documents confirming their Polish origin, explaining that “they are in the civil service and were warned about responsibility.”
 
In 2023, 11 political parties, 107 public associations, and two foundations were liquidated in Belarus based on lawsuits filed by the Ministry of Justice. Written warnings have been issued against 410 non-profit organizations.
 
Minsk security forces continue to search for participants in the 2020 protests. In 2023, 2,580 criminal cases related to extremism were initiated “and this practice will not stop”, stated Katsiaryna Garlinskaya, an official representative of the Department of the Investigative Committee for Minsk. According to her, commentators “express opinions on various issues using profanity and insults against representatives of the government and anyone who supports it,” they also “intimidate the population, employees of government agencies, threaten their families with violence.” More than 1,000 criminal cases have been opened in Minsk for insulting Aliaksandr Lukashenka and government officials on the Internet. Another considerable group of criminal cases – on charges of deliberate actions aimed at inciting national discord and discord based on nationality. According to “Viasna” Human Rights Center, only in January 52 people were fined, the total sum of fines amounted to 1,344 basic values. 26 people were arrested on administrative charges. The cumulative period of arrests was 381 days. The scope of repression is probably even wider since human rights defenders do not have all the information.
 
During a massive raid by security forces in late January, at least 257 people were persecuted, most of them women. One of the reasons for the searches, interrogations, and detentions was the help the families of political prisoners had received – food delivery via E-delivery from the INeedHelp initiative, which was recognized as an extremist formation. Since the beginning of February, people across Belarus have been tried en masse for “using foreign aid to carry out extremist activities”. Over the past two weeks, at least 65 trials for receiving such assistance have already taken place. Some food recipients were imposed large fines. Passports are not returned to some detainees.
 
Political prisoner Stsiapan Latypau fell ill with scurvy. In Mahileu prison N 4 he is not receiving medical care and is not allowed parcels with medications. Scurvy is a disease associated with a lack of vitamin C. It is characterized by vascular fragility, bleeding gums, tooth loss, and pain in the extremities. Stsiapan Latypau was found guilty of organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them, resisting an internal affairs officer or another person protecting public order, and fraud on an especially large scale, and was sentenced to 8.5 years in a high-security penal colony and fined 300 basic units (8,700 rubles). On September 15, 2022, he was transferred from a colony to a prison regime for two years.
 
Political prisoner Ryhor Kastusiou complains his health has deteriorated in Hrodna prison N 1. According to the latest information, he is alone in the cell. According to him, the last two months in the “Wolf Holes” (high-security colony N 22) have been very difficult, and the long transportation to Hrodna prison also affected his health. Rygor Kastuseu is an ex-chair of the BNF (the Belarusian People’s Front) party; he was detained in 2021. In September 2022, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the “coup case”. During his detention, he was diagnosed with cancer. Kastusiou served time in colony N 22 in Ivatsevichi, but on January 15, 2024, he was transferred to a prison regime.
 
On February 15, the Minsk City Court delivered a sentence in the case against members of the BYPOL organization. The case was considered in the framework of the special proceedings since all the defendants in the case currently live abroad. The court fully agreed with the demands of the public prosecutor. Aliaksandr Azarau received the longest sentence – 25 years of imprisonment. Matsvei Kupreychyk, Uladzimir Zhygar, and Ihar Laban received 12 years each, and Andrei Astapovich – 11 years. Nothing is reported about the sentence of Aleh Talerchyk, who is also a defendant in the case. All the defendants were charged under twelve articles of the Criminal Code. Among them are high treason, organization of acts of terrorism, conspiracy to seize or retain state power unconstitutionally, creation of an extremist formation, and slander against Lukashenka. In 2020, former security forces supported protests election fraud, and violence, and then went abroad, where they founded the BYPOL. In 2021, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus recognized BYPOL and the Peramoha Mobilization Plan as an extremist formation. In August 2022, BYPOL and its structures were recognized as a terrorist organization.
 
The International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus published an investigation into the events in the Central Police Department of Minsk on August 9-13, 2020. 54 stories of direct eyewitnesses were studied, and photographs of injuries and medical documents were analyzed. The researchers compiled a list of 88 law enforcement officers who were in the police department during the specified period and “most likely participated in torture.” According to the International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus, between 400 and 600 people, including minors and foreign citizens, passed through the Central District police department on August 9-13. “We call on the international community to act and support the victims, seeking accountability for the crimes committed. It is necessary to stop the cycle of violence and impunity so that such events never happen again,” the report says.
 
The Secretary General of the Belarusian Red Cross Society (BKK) Dzmitry Shautsou promised to continue “supporting Ukrainian children who are brought to Belarus for rehabilitation”. He also stated that the organization cooperates with the Aliaksei Talai Foundation. On December 1, 2023, the membership of the Belarusian Red Cross Society in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was suspended. This happened after the BKK refused to remove Shautsou, who was seen publicly wearing military fatigues with the “Z” insignia of Russian occupation forces in Ukraine, and claimed publicly that he favored deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, from his post of Secretary General. The organization lost funding from the International Federation. The European Union has included Dzmitry Shautsou in the draft of the 13th sanctions package.
 
On February 14, it became known that the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against representatives of the Personnel Reserve for the New Belarus program. About 30% of the participants of the program are presently in Belarus, said Yury Hubarevich, coordinator of the initiative, and deputy representative of the United Transitional Cabinet for transit of power, in this regard. “We are taking all security measures so that [the security forces] do not know about anyone — it does not matter whether in Belarus or abroad,” he assured. He noted that the attention of the authorities to the initiative is based on the fact that they feel danger to themselves personally and to the unconstitutional regime they protect. Yury Hubarevich recalled that in the fall of 2023, a fake account of the Personnel Reserve for New Belarus was created in Telegram, “which duplicated information, but gave fake contacts” of the organizers. “If someone inadvertently communicated with them, these people are under threat,” he warned. The Investigative Committee has recognized the program Personnel Reserve for New Belarus as an extremist formation and is going to prosecute its participants under the charges of entry of a person into an extremist formation. Special proceedings will be applied to participants located abroad. The program Personnel Reserve for New Belarus was launched by the United Transitional Cabinet in November 2022 to train professionals who will be able to work in government positions and carry out reforms.
 
The Investigative Committee began special proceedings against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s adviser, Franak Vyachorka. He is charged with treason against the state; conspiracy to seize state power; public calls to seize state power, committing an act of terrorism and other actions aimed at harming the national security; discrediting the Republic of Belarus; creation and leadership of an extremist formation, including repeatedly; inciting other social hostility and discord; organization of mass riots; organizing group actions that grossly violate public order; and slander against Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Franak Vyachorka is invited to appear at the central office of the Investigative Committee with a passport.
 
The isolation of Maryja Kalesnikawa and other political prisoners is not a whim of the head of the colony, but one of the types of torture purposefully and systematically used by the regime. Incommunicado is a special term in international law that characterizes the situation when a convicted person cannot realize his right to correspond and meet with relatives and a defender. In the practice of international human rights mechanisms, it is on a par with enforced disappearances, one of the most serious human rights violations. Behind the blocking of correspondence is the desire of the authorities to break the will of political prisoners so that they never return to public and political activities after their release. In Belarus, there is no way to appeal against illegal actions, the mechanisms of control over places of detention and correctional institutions do not work.
 
The Human Rights Committee, a treaty body of the United Nations in charge of monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has requested Belarus authorities to ensure the physical and moral well-being of Siarhei Tsikhanouski and his access to qualified medical assistance, lawyers, and family while his case is under consideration by the Committee (Communication No. 4305/2023). “Incommunicado detention – with a risk of enforced disappearance – is indicative of a strategy to punish political opponents and hide evidence of their ill-treatment and torture by law enforcement and prison authorities,” was underlined in a statement. It also requested urgent protection measures in respect of lawyer Maksim Znak and politician Viktar Babaryka, who are also held incommunicado along with other political prisoners. The incommunicado detention of a prisoner is a grave breach of international law and amounts to the enforced disappearance of a person. It may also be indicative of the most severe unlawful acts against a prisoner, such as torture, inhuman treatment, and ill-treatment. It is, therefore, critical to ensure that prisoners have the right to correspond with their close relatives, legal assistance of defense lawyers, and qualified medical personnel. “We call on our international partners to publicly highlight the problem of incommunicado detention of Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Maksim Znak and Viktar Babaryka, and other political prisoners. We are demanding access to their lawyers and qualified medical personnel, as well as to stop blocking their correspondence with close relatives,” – says the statement of the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
 
German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said in a joint article in Die Welt that “the repressions of Belarusian dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka against his people are intensifying. We have no right to put up with this.” They note that Belarusians in 2020 went out to the streets for freedom, which is “the foundation of a peaceful Europe” and which “the regime hates so much.” The politicians stressed that the regime in Belarus is not a victim of Vladimir Putin but is “repressive and aggressive”. Annalena Baerbock and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya promised not to allow people in Belarus to “disappear behind the new iron curtain,” as they “belong to Europe,” and expressed hope “for a free, independent Belarus.”

On February 12, consultations between the Russian and Belarusian Ministries of Foreign Affairs were held in Moscow. The delegations headed by press secretaries Anatoli Hlaz and Maria Zakharova “discussed a wide range of topics: from joint info-campaigns in social networks and functioning of the Union media to the topic of artificial intelligence and promotion of the tourist potential of the two countries”.
 
The MFA of Belarus continues to criticize the West for its sanctions. In particular, the Belarusian officials claim that the European officials are hypocrites when they speak about “support for Belarusian people” but are practicing “medical fascism”. According to their data, some European companies discontinued the supply of medicines and supplies that ease “the pain and suffering of children”, and insinuate that by doing so, European officials are likening themselves to Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele. This storyline of the MFA is further developed in the articles for SB. Belarus Segodnya by propagandist Liudmila Hladkaya (“The executioner is long gone, but his dirty deed continues in America, dragging European Union members into the crime. As we can see, they are more afraid of secondary sanctions than of complicity in the abuse of sick people”) and Anton Papou (“Stopping the supply of medical materials and drugs looks like an attempt at genocide. Is there any fundamental difference between the executioner Katryuk, who is now being posthumously tried for the murder of hundreds of civilians, and the top managers of Molnycke Health Care or Orion Corporation, who do not think about the people who need their help. But no one can wash the stigma of executioners who try to kill sick children and the disabled off the West’s face. However, it is hard to expect otherwise from those who once elevated racial theory to an absolute, bringing anti-human ideology to the level of practical application in ghettos and concentration camps”).
 
At the 75th session of the Trade and Development Council (UNCTAD), Larysa Belskaya, permanent representative of Belarus to the UN Office in Geneva, stated that “the persistence of Western sanctions against Belarusian fertilizers and blocking their unimpeded transit to world markets is one of the critical factors of the threat of hunger in vulnerable countries and the growing global food crisis”. Speaking about sanctions in general, Belskaya called them a “political problem” because they affect the interests of “the most vulnerable segments of the population.” She named Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Belarus as the countries that suffer from the sanctions and warned that the list could be expanded to include other countries “undesirable to the West”.
 
On February 13, at a meeting with members of the Republican Council of Rectors of higher education institutions Lukashenka advised them to fight against fakes and disinformation “by the living word and active public work” — to “go to the people” and work primarily with young people.
 
The Minister of Information Uladzimir Piartsou spoke in a similar vein, but he focused on the topic of the upcoming elections. During a meeting with the ideological activists of Beshenkovichy district, he noted that social networks can shape the worldview and influence people’s decisions. “For us to go through this period as effectively and positively as possible for the future of our country and our children, I wish you all to find effective channels of communication, influence, and informing our people to reach their hearts and souls.”
 
Last week, the state media reposted quite actively the interview of Vladimir Putin to Tucker Carlson naturally giving positive feedback about the journalist and the politician. Pro-state political scientist Vadzim Yalfimau: “Their conversation, or rather a serious conversation, as Vladimir Vladimirovich himself defined this TV genre, is at the top and had gained about 1 billion views by Sunday evening”. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, said,   “And with such a man, who has the largest nuclear potential behind him and who threatens no one, the West has decided to pick a fight?! As Tucker Carlson said afterward, “we have to be crazy.” And who did this Western coalition take as its leaders and warlords? Falling all over the place, oblivious, stuttering Biden! Who confuses stuttering with falling asleep on the fly”.
Propagandist Ihar Tur stated that together with the KGB he had been listening to the online seminars for the participants of the initiative “Personnel Reserve for New Belarus” for over a year now, and also about the alleged leak of the data from the participants list and arrests of some of them. On February 14, on the air of ONT, the arrested people were shown as well as the recordings from the inaugural conference of the initiative. There was no proof given that the people shown on air were actual participants of the seminars. On the same day, the Investigative Committee of Belarus announced its intention to launch prosecution of participants under the article “Participation in the activities of an extremist formation”. 
 
On February 14, the Head of the Belarusian Red Cross Dzmitry Shevtsou announced that the organization will continue this year to help children that are being taken from the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine to Belarus. “As of today, 7,200 people from this country are under the protection of the Belarusian Red Cross, 1,955 children among them”, he said.  
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On February 15, during the ceremony of accepting credentials from Ambassadors of eight countries, Lukashenka stated that Belarus is ready “for a dialogue for all countries without exception and on all possible issues, but special attention is given to countries that want such a dialogue”. “That is why we are unequivocal supporters of united and indivisible security, advocate for a new, fairer world order, for opportunities for development and a dignified future for all peoples, not just for the so-called golden billion”.
On February 15, Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia Aliaksandr Shpakouski warned that the two countries have “far-reaching plans, next to the establishment of a joint media holding” and “there are no controversies in creating a common information policy”, but “certain discrepancies and shortcomings” have to be eliminated in the working order. “What did Ambassador Dzmitry Krutoy mean when he spoke about the need to unite the lists of extremists and extremist resources at the level of the Union State of Belarus and Russia? Here, for example, is the Internet portal “Idel.Realii”, created by Radio Liberty (USA), i.e., by the CIA and the State Department, to destabilize the situation in the Russian Volga region. It can be freely accessed from the territory of Belarus. Also, some extremist publications against the security of our country are available to users in the Russian Federation. And then we wonder why some people, our fellow citizens, have a distorted picture of the world. Naturally, censorship alone cannot ensure victory in the information war. But it is one of the tools that should complement our own quality educational work.”
 
On February 16, Lukashenka stated that someone from the “escapees” promised the Western regions of Belarus to Poland: “Read, we will get something from Smolensk, Bryansk, maybe Pskov regions. And we should give western Belarus (as you know, there was a border up to Minsk) to Poland. This is the new “democratic authorities in the West”. Who of you can agree with this? Maybe some of you can, but not me. We will fight to the last for our lands. Moreover, we don’t cause any problems to anyone. We don’t owe anyone anything. We have no claims either to Vilnius, nor to the Bialystok region, neither to Russian nor to Ukrainian lands. We have enough of what we have historically inherited.” Later, this thesis was caught up by propaganda: a video of the questioning of brothers Sergei and Pavel Kabarchuk “saboteurs recruited by the Special Services of Ukraine” was shown publicly on state TV channels. The authors of the stories claim that the explosives were intended for sabotage on the territory of the Union State and that the terrorists are supported by the “fugitive Belarusian opposition,” which “hopes that Russia will not win the conflict in Ukraine”.
 
On February 16, Belarusian propaganda reacted to the news about the death of the Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny at the correctional colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the Far North of Russia. Most were actively disseminating the Kremlin’s version of the events, particularly information on the topic from Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Many immediately began to claim that Vladimir Putin “certainly did not need this death” (Vadzim Hihin). The official Telegram Channel of BT in an offensive manner called not to react to the Western concerns: “Times now are such that Russia (and Belarus) wants to spit on the opinion and questions of stoltenbergs, borrels, and similar crooks. And they are right.”  Political scientist Andrei Lazutkin raised a version that the West will use the death of Navalny as proof that peaceful negotiations with Putin are impossible: “We remember how <…> the negotiations in Istanbul were interrupted with Bucha, where reportedly Russia carried out “genocide”, now it looks like that the upcoming negotiations will be disrupted by the death of Navalny”. On their part, Ryhor Azaronak and his like-minded colleagues call Navalny a “sacred victim”, who was killed by the West to “unfold the situation before elections”. It is noteworthy that Azaronak uses this conspiracy version to call on the authorities of Belarus to use the “incommunicado” state of Belarusian political prisoners: “Is it clear now, why lawyers cannot be allowed to the so-called “inmates” and receipt of letters or parcels prohibited? Western intelligence services have super-sophisticated skills in the ways of eliminating people”.

Best regards,
iSANS team