This action will in no way affect the activities of the BNR Rada, its interaction with the democratic forces of Belarus and its support for Belarusian volunteers who are fighting for the freedom and independence of Ukraine.

Furthermore, the illegal decisions and actions of the Lukashenka regime, driven by its extremist ideology, including those of a pseudo-juridical nature, add to the list of actions subject to criminal prosecution once legal order is restored on the territory of Belarus.

The accusations against the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, including statements about its alleged denial of the independence of Belarus, are obviously false and absurd, especially considering that the BNR Rada first declared Belarus a sovereign state on 25 March 1918, thereby initiating the history of the modern independent Belarus.

Also, the BNR Rada reminds that it has repeatedly condemned the totalitarian regimes that committed crimes on the territory of Belarus, including the regime of the German National Socialists.

In particular, in its statement on 22 June 2021, adopted on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Nazi occupation of Belarus, the BNR Rada said the following:

“The BNR Rada stands in solidarity with the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal in condemning proven war crimes committed on the territory of Belarus by German troops and their allies, including both Belarusians, and Russian nationalists, and representatives of other countries. The BNR Rada condemns all organisations recognised as criminal by the decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

At the same time, the BNR Rada condemns the abuse of the tragedy of the Second World War by the propaganda of the totalitarian Soviet regime and its modern heirs.

The communist authorities used the trauma of the Belarusian people from the war in order to manipulate our people, to incite hatred towards other countries, to hide the memory of mass Soviet political terror and mass Soviet war crimes, as well as to strengthen their criminal anti-Belarusian political regime.

The BNR Rada declares that Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the former president of Belarus, is the only head of a modern European state who is an open ideological follower of both the Soviet and Hitler’s regimes.

A. Lukashenka publicly made anti-Semitic statements and statements about the inferiority of the Belarusian language, culture and statehood.

A. Lukashenka publicly expressed his admiration for the political practices of A. Hitler. During his almost three decades of illegal rule, he modeled Belarus’ political system on Hitler’s principles, showing contempt for democratic freedoms, human rights, and for parliamentary democracy, while consolidating absolute power.”

In addition, in its statement on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War on 8 May 2015, the BNR Rada stated the following:

“The victory over National Socialist Germany, to which the Belarusian people had made an important contribution, saved millions of people from the direct threat of physical extermination. Unfortunately, as a result of the war, Belarus did not gain freedom, but remained under Soviet occupation for almost 50 years, which was accompanied by Russification and repression against dissenters, including supporters of the state sovereignty of Belarus.

Humanity must honor the memory of the victims of the Second World War and do everything to ensure that such wars never happen again.”

Below are links to statements and publications of the BNR Rada on this topic:

Statement of the BNR Rada on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (08/05/2015, in English):

STATEMENT OF THE BNR RADA ON THE OCCASION OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR II

Declaration of memory and solidarity (30/10/2016, in English):

DECLARATION OF MEMORY AND SOLIDARITY

International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27/01/2017, in Belarusian)

Міжнародны дзень памяці ахвяраў Галакосту

European Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Nazism and Stalinism (23/08/2017, in Belarusian):

Эўрапейскі дзень памяці ахвяраў нацызма і сталінізма

Statement of the BNR Rada on the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (23/08/2019, in English):

Statement of the BNR Rada on the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The memory of the Second World War should be the foundation of peace, freedom and democracy – Statement of the BNR Rada (22/06/2021):

MEMORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR SHOULD BE THE FOUNDATION OF PEACE, FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY – STATEMENT BY THE BNR RADA

(Unofficial translation from Belarusian)

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The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (the BNR Rada), founded in 1917, is the oldest active Belarusian governmental institution. Since 1918, the BNR Rada has served as the temporary supreme governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the first Belarusian democratic state whose independence was declared on 25 March 1918. The BNR Rada was forced to relocate from Belarus in 1919 due to the invasion by Soviet Russia and has been operating in exile ever since, now representing a more than a century old Belarusian democratic political tradition.

The BNR Rada emphasizes that any public conflict between Belarusians and Lithuanians is primarily beneficial to our common enemy – the dictatorial Putin’s Russia, as well as its satellite, the regime of A. Lukashenka in Belarus, which is engaged in promoting the Russian-Soviet colonial ideological and pseudo-historical narrative, hostile to the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and is purposefully engaged in the Russification of Belarus, including its Polish and Lithuanian minorities.

Our common enemies, some of whom the ancestors of the present-day Lithuanians and Belarusians opposed for centuries, are interested in such conflicts going beyond the boundaries of constructive academic, expert and public discussion and leading to mutual insults, harming the centuries-old good-neighborly relations between the peoples of present-day Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania. The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic reminds of Moscow’s past attempts to divide Belarusians and Lithuanians in the early 1990s in order to hinder the process of restoring the independence of the Republic of Lithuania. Meanwhile, the restoration of Lithuanian independence was welcomed and supported by the Belarusian democratic forces – precisely those whose identity was based on the memory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In January 1991, hundreds of Belarusians came to Vilnius and stood by the Lithuanians, defending the parliament of the Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanians’ right to independence.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was formed, built and existed as a result of close interaction of Baltic, East Slavic and West Slavic cultures and peoples. In the battles of Grünwald, Orša, Syni Vody, banners from Minsk and Vilnia (Vilnius), Navahradak and Troki (Trakai), Viciebsk and Koŭna (Kaunas) and other cities fought shoulder to shoulder against external enemies on equal terms.

Attempts to dispute the right of any of our nations to view themselves as heirs to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and to consider historical Lithuania as their state are historically groundless, inherently destructive and only play into the hands of the aggressive regimes of Lukashenka and Putin.

The BNR Rada states that the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has become the foundation for the national identity of both modern Belarusians and modern Lithuanians. For both our peoples, historical Lithuania is the golden age of statehood. In particular, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a stage of Belarusian state building is indirectly referred to by both the Constitutional Charters of the Belarusian Democratic Republic of 1918 and the 1994 Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

The BNR Rada notes that our nations have a positive track record of peaceful and good-neighborly treatment of common history. An example of this is the joint reburial of the rebels of 1863-1864, which was excellently conducted by the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania in 2019 and was attended by representatives of the Republic of Lithuania, Poland and Belarus – all countries that honor the heroic feat of our common countrymen who died for our and your freedom. The BNR Rada welcomes the activity of Belarusian political, cultural and educational institutions in the Republic of Lithuania, which would not be possible without the support of the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania. Belarusians will always be grateful for this support, and it strengthens the long-term Belarusian-Lithuanian good neighborliness like nothing else.

In this regard, the BNR Rada warns politicians and public opinion leaders of both Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania against aggressive and destructive mutual rhetoric when discussing the interpretation of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, so that this topic, which is equally sensitive for Belarusians and Lithuanians, does not become an instrument of manipulation and provocation by our common enemies.

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic calls on historians of Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania to formulate a balanced view of the complex and multifaceted history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which would be based on facts, be free from nationalistic contexts and provide for common interpretations that would respect the feelings of both Belarusians and Lithuanians, and respect the role which the memory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania played in the formation of modern Belarusian and Lithuanian nations.

The BNR Rada emphasizes that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is an object of common heritage and common value for Belarusians and Lithuanians, which should unite our peoples and not divide them.

(translated from Belarusian)

In 1989, Aleś Puškin organised the first public performance in Minsk in decades to honour March 25, the anniversary of the establishment of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. He was detained by the Soviet police and convicted. Puškin is the author of dozens of paintings dedicated to the heroic past of the Belarusian people. In 2018, he was awarded the Medal for the Centenary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic by the BNR Rada.

The direct responsibility for this untimely and tragic death lies with the present authoritarian regime in Belarus, as well as personally with the former President of the Republic of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who in 1995-1996 carried out a coup d’etat and illegally usurped the highest state power in the country.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka is personally responsible for political terror, censorship, violence against dissidents and for murders of his critics and opponents, which have occurred over these almost thirty years.

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic demands immediate and unconditional release, as well as full legal rehabilitation of all Belarusian political prisoners. The persons who are responsible for the illegal imprisonment of Belarusian politicians, activists, journalists, intellectuals, or of simply law-abiding politically concerned citizens, must be punished to the full extent of the law.

This concerns both the supreme political patrons, including the top leadership of the authoritarian regime in Minsk, and the executors: judges, propagandists, employees of prisons and law enforcement agencies.

As the Soviet occupiers did in the darkest times of the USSR, the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka is engaged in the targeted destruction of the Belarusian cultural elite. Stopping this by any possible means is necessary for the survival of the Belarusian people.

The name of Aleś Puškin will remain in history in the same row with the names of the best sons and daughters of Belarus.

(unofficial translation from Belarusian)

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The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (the BNR Rada), founded in 1917, is the oldest active Belarusian governmental institution. Since 1918, the BNR Rada has served as the temporary supreme governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the first Belarusian democratic state whose independence was declared on 25 March 1918. The BNR Rada was forced to relocate from Belarus in 1919 due to the invasion by Soviet Russia and has been operating in exile ever since, now representing a more than a century old Belarusian democratic political tradition.

Belarus (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) has traditionally been a place of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence of different religious communities: the Greek-Catholic majority, as well as the Roman-Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant minorities, as well as non-Christian minorities, primarily represented by Muslims and Jews who found refuge in Belarus after exile from other countries. Tolerance and respect for diversity were, are, and will remain among the main values for the Belarusian people.

The main source of inter-religious tension in Belarus is the Russian Orthodox Church, forcibly imposed on Belarusians in the first half of the 19th century, and in its current form shaped in the Stalinist USSR in 1943 and represented today by a fully Russian-controlled exarchate under the false name “Belarusian Orthodox Church”. During its activity on the territory of Belarus, this organization showed itself primarily not as a church, but as a Russian colonial institution, an instrument of Russification and pressure on traditional Belarusian Christian churches, to which the Russian Orthodox Church itself does not belong. During the Soviet era, the Russian Orthodox Church was an instrument in the hands of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which carried out a policy of ethnocide of Belarusians and political terror against any dissidents. Many ROC hierarchs were part of the KGB, a criminal organisation, and remain agents of the secret political police of the authoritarian regimes of Lukashenka and Russia’s Putin.

In modern Belarus, the Russian Orthodox Church is one of the ideological pillars of A. Lukashenka’s regime and enjoys unjustified privileges from the authoritarian state, while many other Belarusian Christian churches suffer discrimination, confiscation of property and repression against priests. Belarusian autocephalous Orthodoxy, which is a true continuation of local Orthodox traditions in Belarusian lands from the Middle Ages and which for many years was and remains one of the spiritual supports of many Belarusians in exile, is forced to exist in Belarus under conditions of particularly severe persecution.

Contrary to the fundamentals of Christian teaching, the so-called “Belarusian Orthodox Church” does not condemn the violence, murders and torture for which Lukashenka’s regime is responsible. On the contrary, priests and activists who stand on honest Christian – and especially on democratic and pro-Belarusian – positions are systematically and purposefully forced to leave the ranks of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. For decades, the Russian Orthodox Church has been indoctrinating Orthodox Belarusians in the spirit of Russian nationalism and the so-called “Russian world”.

The Russian Orthodox Church most eloquently manifested its essence in the context of the current war between Russia and Ukraine. The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and its Belarusian Exarchate openly supports Russian military aggression and blesses Russian invaders who commit war crimes on the territory of Ukraine. The structures of the so-called “Belarusian Orthodox Church” were seen collecting material aid for the Russian aggressors.

The activities of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church should be the subject of close investigation by law enforcement and constitutional order bodies in the future democratic Belarus. The so-called “Belarusian Orthodox Church” of the Moscow Patriarchate is responsible for promoting extremist anti-state ideology, supporting Russian aggression in Ukraine and supporting the dictatorial regime in Belarus.

Traditional Belarusian churches of the Eastern rite, including the Belarusian Greek-Catholic Church and the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, have the full right to independently determine their internal organisational structure, and should enjoy all the support of the future democratic Belarusian state as institutions of historical and spiritual value.

Now, this warning has become a reality – Moscow and Minsk have signed a deal that will allow the deployment of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons in Belarusian facilities.

The Rada BNR emphasizes that the Republic of Belarus doesn’t have a legitimate governement — Aliaksandar Lukashenka has usurped power. He and his cronies have no authority to make decisions for the Belarusian people.

For the first time since the existence of the USSR, this deal by Moscow and Minsk not only positions Belarusians as a target for a retaliatory nuclear strike, but also as a target for a preventive nuclear strike.

The Rada BNR calls the governments and the parliaments of the democratic world to support the Belarusian people in their struggle against the Putin-Lukashenka occupation.

—

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (the BNR Rada), founded in 1917, is the oldest active Belarusian governmental institution. Since 1918, the BNR Rada has served as the temporary supreme governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the first Belarusian democratic state whose independence was declared on 25 March 1918. The BNR Rada was forced to relocate from Belarus in 1919 due to the invasion by Soviet Russia and has been operating in exile ever since, now representing a more than a century old Belarusian democratic political tradition.

Grounds for awarding

The medal is awarded for personal bravery shown in circumstances involving risk to life and the protection of freedom, independence and the democratic constitutional order of Belarus on the basis of the ideals of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, in particular, while conducting military and official duties, in battle and while conducting special tasks in the national interests of Belarus.

The medal can be awarded:

• To members of the Belarusian military and of equivalent services, including Belarusian partisan units and Belarusian military units as part of foreign troops,
• To Belarusians (both Belarusian citizens and persons who belong to the Belarusian nation but are not Belarusian citizens) who are fighting in a personal capacity in the ranks of foreign troops and services outside the borders of Belarusian military units,
• To foreign military personnel who meet the criteria specified in the medal’s statute, and who significantly contributed to the performance of an armed mission by the Belarusian military in accordance with the criteria specified in the medal’s statute,
• To civilian non-combatants who meet the conditions of the statute of the Military Virtue Medal.

The medal is awarded by the Decree of the President of the BNR Rada on the basis of submissions by the commanders of the relevant military units or the BNR Rada’s own information.

The title of Member of the Order of the Iron Knight is the senior award relative to the Military Virtue Medal. The medal is worn on the left side of the chest, after order insignia.

Historical roots

According to its statute, the Military Virtue Medal is a successor of the Order of Virtuti Militari, which was founded in 1792 and is the oldest historical Belarusian military award, taking into account the status of Belarus as one of the successor states of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The name and design of the medal reflect this historical continuity. The changes made to the historical award reflect the values of modern Belarus as an independent democratic republic.

Similarly to the Military Virtue Medal, the Order of the Iron Knight also originates from the Order of Virtuti Militari.

Design

The design of the medal was developed by a special Belarusian public heraldic commission and is based on the design of the oldest version of the Virtuti Militari insignia from 1792.

The medal has an oval shape and is made entirely of white (for private and non-commissioned officers) or yellow (for officers, or for repeated awarding of private and non-commissioned officers, or for awarding for special merits) metal. The front side includes the image of the Minor Pahonia coat of arms (an armoured hand holding a sword, derived from the the Pahonia coat of arms) and a ribbon with three stripes, which represents the Belarusian national white-red-white flag.

The reverse side includes the Latin inscription “Virtue et Gladio” (“With courage and sword”) and the individual number of the medal.

The ribbon of the medal consists of vertical stripes of the following colors and arranged in the following order: very narrow white, wide crimson, very narrow white. A narrow vertical line of gold color may be added in the middle of the ribbon bar for the officer’s medal.

First awarding

The first awarding of the Military Virtue Medal took place on February 1, 2023, when the medal was awarded to 22 soldiers of the Belarusian Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, who showed courage in the battles against the Russian occupation forces in Ukraine. The official awarding of medals took place on 9 March 2023 and became the first known ceremony of awarding Belarusian state awards for bravery on the battlefield since the 18th century.

Dear Mr. President,

I speak on behalf of Rada (Council) of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (BNR) – representing sovereign rights of the Belarusian people, expressed by the Legislative Act of March 25, 1918, which was recorded in the Third Constitutional Charter of the BNR. The BNR Rada performs the functions of a National Legislature and of a Government-in-Exile analogous to the Ukrainian People’s Republic in exile until it handed over authorityto the President and Verkhovna Rada of the independent Ukraine in 1992.

The BNR Rada has always supported the right of the Ukrainian people to freedomand sovereignty and in 2014 condemned the Putin’s regime’s aggression against Ukraine. In the recent days, the BNR Rada and I, personally, as President of the BNR Rada, once again have been expressing our support for the Ukrainian people and have called the Belarusian people to show solidarity in the fight against Russia’s aggressive policy.

The Belarusian people are against the war. Perhaps you know that on February 27, thousands of people in Minsk and other cities came out to protest Putin’s invasionof Ukraine and the illegitimate Lukashenka regime’s support of this invasion. Nearly 1,000 people were arrested and jailed. Nevertheless, the protests are continuing.

I must assure you, Mr. President, that the Belarusian patriots – in Belarus and abroad – will stand with the Ukrainian people. We have a common enemy – the imperialistic Russia.Regretfully, I would like to bring to your attention the fact that in recent days I have seen from many Ukrainian media organizations, social media platforms, and even some Ukrainian government officials, purposeful harassment and baseless accusations thatall Belarusian people support the Russian aggression against Ukraine becauseof the Lukashenka regime’s support for Russia.

The outcomes of these accusations spill beyond the virtual media space. They turn into people’s actions and may also lead to tragic outcomes both in specific cases as well asin the relations between our two peoples.

I would like to underscore that the Belarusian people endure a double occupation. Onthe one side, there is Lukashenka’s regime, which has been illegitimate since the referendum in May of 1995; after the so called “elections” in 2020, the country was turned intoa concentration camp. On the other side, there is Putin’s regime, which has since long before the August of 2020 served as the only propping force for Lukashenka.

The Belarusian people have always supported the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom, as evidenced by the many Belarusians who since 2014 and up to the present have fought and died fighting against Russian aggression.

During this difficult time, I would like to kindly request that you call to not automatically equate the Belarusian people with the illegitimate regime of Lukashenka. I request that you ask government officials and the media to stop purposefully harassing the Belarusian people and to stop associating Belarusians with their illegitimate dictator. This only serves to negate the Belarusian people’s effort in our continuing struggle against Lukashenka’s regime.

I would also like to ask you to emphasize the Belarusian people’s ongoing support ofthe Ukrainian people in their fight for democracy, independence, and the European future.In this situation, there should be no collective responsibility nor collective guilt.

We pray for the Ukrainian victory and hope that once it’s achieved, the Ukrainians will support Belarus in its fight against our illegitimate dictator as well as in our struggle for independence and future as a European nation.

Long live Belarus!

Glory to Ukraine!

Respectfully,

Ivonka Survilla

President of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic

4 March 2022

Tadevuš Kaściuška is a national hero of Belarus, Poland, the United States, and the Republic of Lithuania. He was born near Slonim, western Belarus, on 4 February 1746.

Lukashenka does not limit himself to crimes against the Belarusian nation. He began to act inhumanely in the international dimension. The situation on the borders of the three EU countries is absolutely unacceptable. Without decisive measures, Lukashenka will continue the genocide of the Belarusian nation and the terror of citizens of other countries. The situation in Belarus has long gone beyond the internal political crisis. Lukashenka is involved in crimes against humanity as a whole.

Homeland security of the European countries and fundamental humanitarian values both require external intervention in the Belarusian crisis. Decisive action against Lukashenka and his perpetrators, and against the obvious political and economic sponsors of his regime in Russia, is the only way to stop new victims among Belarusians and foreigners.

By building defense structures on the border with Belarus, the EU is only helping Russia, as it puts Belarus under Russia’s zone of influence. The problem with foreign migrants on the Belarusian border should be solved by the tougher measures against the Lukashenko regime, and not against the Belarusian people. The physical wall is the creation of a ghetto for the Belarusian nation. Isn’t that what Putin is seeking by patronizing the border crisis.

The democratic countries of Europe are obliged to take the initiative in their own hands and from the hands of the aggressor. History shows that if political blackmail is not stopped in time by the international community, the behavior of dictators becomes more brutal. Belarusian democratic Belarus has become a fundamental necessity and a global humanitarian goal.

Dear Chairman Cardin, Co-Chairman Cohen, Members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission:

It is a privilege for me to appear before you today, albeit virtually. I had the distinct honor of being a member of this august Commission when I served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights at the end of the George W. Bush administration. I’m grateful for this opportunity to be back with you. The Commission performs extremely important work, proudly upholding the commitments made under the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and ensuring that we and other members of the OSCE live up to those commitments.

Today, we are here to discuss a country, Belarus, whose illegitimate regime, the Lukashenka regime, does not fulfill any of the Helsinki Accords commitments, especially when it comes to the human dimension. Your hearing today is an extremely important way to spotlight what is happening in Belarus and in the region. It comes two months after the pathbreaking visit to the United States by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the democratic forces in Belarus and the true winner of last August’s presidential election.

Tsikhanouskaya has shown tremendous courage and leadership under extremely adverse circumstances. We owe her and those standing with her a debt of gratitude for holding true to the values enshrined in the Helsinki Accords in the face of grave threats and challenges. I also wish to acknowledge my fellow panelists for the bravery they have shown and their commitment, and that of the organizations and movements they represent, to the cause of democracy and freedom. It is an honor to appear with them here today.

While last August’s stolen presidential election marked a turning point in Belarus and a wake-up call for much of the world, the situation in that country has been dreadful for many years. Ever since winning the presidential election in Belarus 27 years ago, Lukashenka has concentrated power into his own hands and has run the country into the ground, disappearing critics, attacking journalists, imprisoning opponents, torturing detainees, enfeebling his nation and selling out Belarus’ sovereignty and independence in exchange for Russian support. He urged Belarusians to take a sauna, drink vodka and ride a tractor to stave off infection from the COVID pandemic. His lunacy, repression and corruption reached such levels that by the time of last August’s election, despite Lukashenka’s efforts to rig it, the vast majority of voters decided they had had enough.

Tsikhanouskaya, whose husband was disqualified from participating in last August’s presidential election and then arrested, stepped in for her husband and won – yet was denied victory and then was forced out of the country. In unprecedented numbers, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians protested Lukashenka’s blatant stealing of the election, in which it was crystal clear that he lost – and by a wide margin.

In response to the protests, Lukashenka launched a massive and vicious crackdown against the people of Belarus. A number of people died at the hands of Lukashenka’s thugs, tens of thousands were arrested, many endured torture, hundreds remain political prisoners, and many more were driven out of the country. Journalists both domestic and foreign, including a number associated with RFE/RL and other Western outlets, have been special targets of Lukashenka. In a clear act of air piracy, if not outright terrorism, Lukashenka in May forced down a Ryanair flight traversing Belarusian territory to apprehend a Belarusian blogger and journalist, Roman Protasevich, who was on board. A military aircraft flew close to the civilian airliner to leave it no choice but to land in Minsk, endangering everyone on board. It is worth noting that a short time later Russian authorities, taking a page from the Lukashenka authoritarian playbook, forced a Lot Airliner to return to the terminal in St. Petersburg to arrest a Russian activist on board, Andrey Pivovarov. If any of us fly over an authoritarian regime and that regime suspects a critic or activist is on board, we might be subject to similarly dangerous stunts.

In another alarming incident, Lukashenka’s agents likely murdered Vital Shyshou, a Belarusian activist who was living in Ukraine and was found hanged from a tree in Kyiv. That act of transnational repression, an increasingly common act carried out by authoritarian regimes, was designed to warn those who have fled Belarus that they may not be safe even outside of the country. All this means that blood is dripping from Lukashenka’s hands, as he engages in the worst human rights abuses in Europe and ranks among the worst in the entire world. That this is occurring in the heart of Europe and on the territory of the OSCE makes this our concern.

Making matters worse, Lukashenka this summer began flying thousands of migrants from the Middle East to Minsk and then forced them across the border into neighboring Lithuania in particular but also Poland to overwhelm their immigration systems in retaliation for those countries’ support for Belarusian democratic forces. This inhumane weaponization of migrants has posed serious security and humanitarian challenges for these countries, already strained by the influx of fleeing Belarusians and Russians, and has forced them to take drastic measures to protect their borders. Their fellow EU member states and the United States need to do more to to support these frontline states and push back on this latest outrage from Lukashenka.

Putin’s Support for Lukashenka Makes All the Difference

Without support from Russian President Vladimir Putin and his circle, Lukashenka undoubtedly would no longer be in power. Putin has provided military, security, political, financial and propaganda backing to prop up his like-minded counterpart in Minsk. Utterly dependent on Putin for staying in power, Lukashenka has left Belarus more vulnerable to Putin’s whims and virtual takeover while isolating his regime from the respected part of the international community. By prolonging Lukashenka in power, Putin, too, has the blood of Belarusians on his hands. It is widely known that Putin and Lukashenka despise each other, though for the time being they seem to have put aside their differences given that they have met in person more than half a dozen times since last August’s election. If Putin had an alternative to Lukashenka, the Russian leader likely would have found some way to install a new person in Minsk. At the same time, Putin does not want to see regime change in Belarus at a time when there is growing popular pressure for such change.

Putin’s fear of seeing like-minded authoritarian leaders driven from power as a result of popular movements and opposition dates back to the “color revolutions” in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in 2004 as well as the Arab Spring movements in 2011 that brought down a number of tyrants in the Middle East. Seared into his memory is what happened to Qaddafi in Libya in 2011 and Yanukovych in Ukraine in 2014. In response to the latter, Putin illegally annexed Crimea and invaded the Donbas region of Ukraine. He refuses to accept that people in other countries, to say nothing of Russians themselves, are capable, on their own, of demanding democratic change and an end to corrupt rule. They must be instigated from the outside, in particular from the United States.

If not stopped, Putin worries these movements spurred on by the West could spread to Russia itself. This insecurity on Putin’s part, combined with a degree of brazenness at the same time, has produced the worst human rights crackdown inside Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Things got noticeably worse in the lead-up to this past weekend’s Duma elections – which the OSCE declined to observe due to limitations Russian authorities sought to impose on the mission – reflecting the Kremlin’s recognition that it cannot afford to leave things to chance given the low ratings of the party in power, United Russia. Thus, any real opposition forces and individuals were disqualified from running, and Russian authorities pressured American technology companies to remove apps from their systems that were designed to direct voters to candidates other than United Russia members, a system called “smart voting.” Last Friday, Apple and Google caved to such pressure and removed the smart voting app. Just like he remembers the color revolutions and the Arab Spring, Putin will never forget the protests in Russia itself after fraudulent Duma elections in 2011 that continued into 2012, until an ugly crackdown against the demonstrators. There, too, he accused the U.S. and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for giving the “signal” for people to turn out in the streets, since he finds it incomprehensible that Russians themselves, fed up with his rule and unhappy with his return to the presidency, would protest on their own against him.

This explains, in part, Putin’s support for Lukashenka. Belarusians on their own, Putin undoubtedly believes, are incapable of turning out into the streets. Once again, according to his conspiratorial mind, they must be instigated by the West – and must be stopped. Unlike the protests in Ukraine in 2013-14 in which Yanukovych’s u-turn on signing agreements with the European Union triggered the demonstrations in the Maidan, the protests in Belarus were neither pro-Western nor anti-Russian. They were anti-Lukashenka and pro-Belarus. By supporting the unpopular, illegitimate and brutal dictator in Minsk, Putin risks turning the people of Belarus against him and Russia, much like his invasion of Ukraine in 2014 drove up support among Ukrainians for joining NATO.

At the same time, Putin does not want the responsibility and economic burden of incorporating Belarus into Russia and seems hesitant to formalize the union state the two governments signed back in 1999 between Lukashenka and Putin’s predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. After amending the Russian constitution last year through a rigged plebiscite to extend his ability to stay in office potentially until 2036, Putin no longer needs a Russia-Belarus Union State as an option for staying in power.

During the recent and fifth in-person meeting this year between Putin and Lukashenka, Putin reaffirmed his support for his neighbor, but the two leaders did not finalize the union state treaty, as some had anticipated. In addition to Putin’s reservations about finalizing the deal, Lukashenka appears to have concluded that he would rather be leader, even illegitimate, of an independent Belarus than a vassal under Putin. And yet to stay in power, he has increased his dependence on Putin and Russia and vitiated Belarus’ sovereignty and independence in the process. Lukashenka is only interested in staying in power; in doing so, he has done stunning damage to Belarus as a country and its people.

While Putin may not be interested in full absorption of Belarus, he is exploiting Lukashenka’s vulnerability and dependence on the Kremlin to expand Russia’s military footprint in the country. This includes the stationing of Russian military aircraft and other weapons systems in Belarus and a record number of military exercises this year between the two countries’ militaries. As analyst Brian Whitmore has noted, “the constant rotation of Russian forces amount[s] to a de facto permanent Russian troop presence in Belarus.”

The Zapad military exercise that concluded last week on the territory of Belarus and Russia generated great concern in the Baltic states, Ukraine and Poland. Belarus provides Russia with a more westward military position – and a more proximate threat to Belarus’ neighbors. According to the Russian defense ministry, some 200,000 personnel participated in the exercise, even if only 12,800 troops, an apparent violation of the Vienna Document of the OSCE, a protocol designed to ensure transparency regarding military exercises.

Why Should We Care? What Can and Should We Do?

For starters, Lukashenka’s blatant abuse of human rights is happening in the heart of Europe, in a country of nearly 10 million people that has threatening spillover effects into other nations, most notably Lithuania, but also Poland, Ukraine and Latvia. Three of those four countries are fellow NATO member states with Article 5 security guarantees. Lukashenka’s weaponization of migrants is a form of hybrid warfare that poses serious risks to those neighboring states – and is a gross violation of those migrants’ human rights. His decision to force the Ryanair flight to land in May endangered everyone on that plane and, if repeated, could result in even more disastrous consequences in the future. The murders of Belarusian activists in other countries underscore the threat Lukashenka and his security forces pose to life, liberty and rule of law – quite simply, to our way of life.

To ignore what is happening would not only betray our values and norms but the people of Belarus struggling for a better future who look to us for support. They are not asking us to fight their battle for them but to stand up for freedom and democracy and against authoritarianism. They also want the West to end its enabling of the Lukashenka regime, which we have been guilty of before by misguidedly lifting sanctions and seeking normalization with that regime. No U.S. secretary of state or national security adviser should have met with Lukashenka, as Mike Pompeo did last February and John Bolton did the year before. Such meetings legitimized a brutal dictator who should be shunned, not courted.

Supporting the democratic forces in Belarus is consistent with the emphasis President Biden has placed on human rights and freedom as part of his foreign (and domestic) policy agenda. In the struggle of democracy versus authoritarianism, Belarus stands out as a test case for the West.

The situation in Belarus also represents a major challenge to the OSCE and the concomitant human dimension commitments under the Helsinki Accords. As this Commission knows full well, the 1991 Moscow Concluding Document states: “The participating States emphasize that issues relating to human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law are of international concern, as respect for these rights and freedoms constitutes one of the foundations of international order. They categorically and irrevocably declare that the commitments undertaken in the field of the human dimension of the CSCE are matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating States and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State concerned.” In other words, what is happening in Belarus is our business and that of other OSCE member states. Moreover, the vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace cannot be realized as long as Belarus remains under dictatorial rule, supported by the like-minded Putin regime.

For the most part, the Western response to the situation in Belarus has revolved around the imposition of several rounds of sanctions on Lukashenka and his regime, most recently on August 9, the one-year anniversary of the stolen election. The targets of these measures include a number of individuals and Lukashenka himself as well as enterprises in the potash and energy sectors. There is no doubt these have made life more difficult for the regime, and yes, for the people of Belarus, too. If they have made Lukashenka more dependent on Russia, that is the fault of Lukashenka, not the West. These measures need to be ramped up on a regular basis, but they need to go farther. The West should cut off all trading in Belarus debt, including on the secondary market. It should have blocked the IMF from granting nearly $1 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) provided for many countries due to the pandemic. This was a lifeline that will only benefit Lukashenka, not the Belarusian population.

As I argued in testimony in May before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the West should go after the so-called wallets or moneybags, individuals connected to Lukashenka who prop him up financially. These include Russian figures who have been instrumental in Lukashenka’s staying power, as well as Belarusians. Cut off the flows from them and you reduce Lukashenka’s days in power.

The EU and UK, but not the United States, have sanctioned Mikhail Gutseriyev, a Russian-British oligarch who is very close to Lukashenko. Gutseriyev helped Lukashenka replace TV presenters who quit in protest over the crackdown and replaced them with RT fill-ins. His son bought the fifth largest bank in Belarus, and his oil company Safmar was the only supplier that continued to ship oil to Belarus after Putin cut shipments in January 2020. The United States should target him along with German Gref and Sberbank, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Belarusian real estate and has its own Belarusian subsidiary. Gref has expressed his full support for Lukashenka during numerous visits to Minsk. Other Russian banks and companies that prop up Lukashenka – like VTB, VEB, Gazprombank, Gazprom, Slavneft, Rosneft and Uralkali – should be sanctioned, too.

When Belarusian presenters resigned last summer over the crackdown, Russian propagandists – including employees of RT – were brought to Minsk to fill the airwaves with pro-Lukashenka nonsense. They are not journalists – they are dangerous propagandists and should be targeted for sanctions. For that matter, RT as a whole should be sanctioned; it is a nefarious propaganda arm of the Kremlin pretending to be a journalistic outlet.

We need to inform our allies in the Middle East, who have provided funding and support for Lukashenka, that they can do business with us or with the Belarusian dictator, but not both. It is time for them to make a choice. We also need to ensure that no American citizens or companies are doing business with Lukashenka and thus helping to prop him up. In addition, we must do everything we can to stop Lukashenka’s weaponization of migrants and support those countries on the receiving end as well as the innocent victims of such inhumane measures. Standing with Lithuania against Chinese pressure in a dispute involving Taiwan, which Secretary of State Blinken has done, is important but no less important is pushing back on Lithuania’s reckless dictator next door.

Sanctions are a tool, sometimes a very effective tool, but they must be part of a larger strategy and used systematically. Accordingly, we need a clear articulation of our goals and policy that should start with this: we will never recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus. He may have come to power through fair elections in 1994, but he long ago forfeited any right to be considered a legitimate leader, well before trying to steal last August’s presidential election.

As long as Lukashenka remains in power, illegitimately, Belarus has no hope of a better, brighter future. With him gone, Belarus has no guarantee of a better, more democratic future, but for the first time it will have such a possibility. Thus, Lukashenka’s departure from power must be the overriding goal of the West. This would align us with the aspirations of the people of Belarus, too.

Achieving this objective should be done through maintaining isolation of the regime in Minsk and increasing sanctions as discussed above. New free and fair elections are possible only after Lukashenka has left the scene. Only his departure from power will create the space and possibility for Belarus to start a new chapter and regain the hope of beginning a transition away from dictatorship and toward democracy. We also must press for the release of all political prisoners and accountability for the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by Lukashenka and his thugs.

We must warn Putin that continued support, military or otherwise, for his Belarusian counterpart will incur costs for the Kremlin. As it is, we are witnessing the not-so-slow Russian takeover economically of Belarus, and that, too, needs to be stopped. We have wanted to avoid turning Belarus into an East-West clash, but we also need to be mindful that our caution on that score can get in the way of doing what’s right. So far, the democratic movement in Belarus has been neutral toward Russia, but miscalculations by Putin could turn sentiment against their neighbor to the east.

Finally, the West needs to prepare to support Belarus when it finally reaches the day when Lukashenka is gone from the scene. It will need lots of help, and the people of Belarus have demonstrated that they deserve it. The EU has pledged some $3.7 billion in support to help the country move onto a democratic path, and the United States should also get ready for a serious assistance package when better days come for Belarus.

One way or another, Lukashenka’s days are numbered. He may think he has regained the upper hand, but he has lost all legitimacy and relies on massive repression and Putin’s support to stay in power. He has hung on longer than some, including this author, thought but that is due to Putin’s backing. We must tighten the screws on him and his regime, as well as his Russian enablers, and stand with the brave people of Belarus. Amid grave risks, the people of Belarus seek an end to dictatorship and the dawn of a new, more democratic day in Belarus. They are upholding the finest tradition of the Helsinki Accords, and that should be a cause worthy of our support.