Kastus Kalinouski Regiment - New details have emerged of Belarusians fighting for Ukraine against Russian aggression as part of a wider struggle to free their country from Russian domination and the rule of Moscow-backed autocrat Alexander Lukashenko .
Speaking exclusively to VOA in a telephone interview on Tuesday, the deputy commander of the main pro-Ukrainian Belarusian army said that their number almost reached the size of a Ukrainian camp, which he said has about 450-500 soldiers.
Kastus Kalinouski Regiment
"Thousands have applied to join us through an online recruitment tool," said Vadim Kabanchuk of the Kastus Kalinouski battalion, named after the Belarusian revolutionary who led a regional uprising. resisted Russian occupation in the 1860s.
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Kalinouski's army began to form in Kyiv after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The battalion uses the @belwarriors Telegram channel to share news and photos of its activities. On March 9, announced the adoption of the name Kalinouski in a video published on the platform.
Kabanchuk said he was one of the fighters of the Belarusian battalion active in the defense of Ukraine until 2014. That year, the Russian army invaded the eastern part of Ukraine in Donbas to would spark a separatist uprising in the Russian-speaking community.
Belarusians have been driven to fight for Ukraine for years in the hope that freeing it from Russian occupation will fuel their own efforts to rid Belarus of Moscow's influence and end 27 years of rule. Lukashenko, a great ally of the Russians.
Kalinouski's army swore allegiance to Belarus and Ukraine in a March 25 Telegram video. Four days later, in another video, members of the battalion said they had a new status in the Ukrainian Army and held up the same green brochure. Ukrainian military ID.
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There was no confirmation of Kalinouski's statement on the website run by the Ukrainian government and military. The Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not respond to an email sent by VOA asking if it could provide such confirmation.
Belarusian fighters from the Kastus Kalinouski battalion pose for a photo in Kyiv, March 2022. (Courtesy: Antos Tsialezhnikau)
Franak Viacorka, a senior adviser to Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told VOA that he believed Kalinouski's claims of joining the Ukrainian Army were credible. He said that the battalion is the largest and "best organized" of the Belarusian units fighting for Ukraine and said that they have earned the right to display the Belarusian flag and state emblem at work.
"Now, they will fight not only in one place, not only for the defense of Kyiv, but all over Ukraine," said Viacorka.
Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment
When the full-scale invasion of Russia began, Belarusian fighters from Kalinouski's battalion joined the volunteer units of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces in Kyiv. this, according to deputy commander Kabachuk. in the
The news site reported in January that the Territorial Defense Forces unit is made up of former active Ukrainian soldiers and other volunteers, including civilians.
Kabachuk said some Kyiv-area defense groups joined by Belarusian fighters include Ukrainian fighters affiliated with the Azov regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine. The Azov Regiment is known for the right-wing beliefs of some of its members and is most active in Mariupol, a southern Ukrainian port that has been besieged by Russia for weeks.
"At first we were part of the Kyiv region security group whose members were allegedly part of the Azov movement," Kabachuk said. "But we are not part of the Azov regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine and we don't want to be confused," he said.
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Most Belarusians who volunteered to fight for Ukraine were not motivated by right-wing ideology but believed that Kyiv's struggle was part of their own struggle to free Belarus from Russian imperialism, former Belarusian Foreign Ministry official Pavel Slunkin said in a phone call with VOA. .
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pose for a photo during a meeting in Moscow, March 11, 2022.
"They include bloggers, journalists, I.T. specialists, business people. All kinds of jobs. And they want to see Belarus as a democratic country," Slunkin said. , analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Not all Belarusians who seek to join the Kalinouski Battalion will go through a series of verification processes aimed at eliminating security threats, Kabachuk explained. The threat included the possibility that Lukashenko's staff would try to infiltrate the army, he said.
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"Thousands of applicants will be rejected after personal interviews at the Belarusian recruitment center in the Polish capital, Warsaw, which is the first screening center for potential fighters," he said. Kabachuk. "Others will be rejected because they are not suitable when they arrive at the battalion headquarters."
A small group of Belarusian fighters has been active in other parts of Ukraine in recent weeks, according to the Belarusian opposition. In a tweet Thursday, Tsikhanouskaya said a newly formed regiment called Pahonia trained new volunteers on behalf of Ukraine's armed forces.
In a statement Friday to VOA, the spokesman for the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, Damien Magrou, a Norwegian national, answered questions about Pahonia by saying that the Ukrainian authorities is considering a move to recruit "potential" Belarusian volunteers into the legion.
Kabanchuk said Kalinouski's soldiers preferred not to join the international legion because its fighters had more autonomy as a separate unit.
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Viacorka, an adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, said in a tweet Thursday that he hoped the Pahonia regiment would form the basis of the new professional Belarusian army in the Lukashenko era.
Lukashenko hit out at pro-Ukraine Belarusian fighters last month, telling a government meeting that the fighters were "stupid" and motivated only by money.
Kabanchuk said that if Lukashenko does this, some Belarusian soldiers will surrender, and others will fight against the Belarusian autocrat.
"He knows full well that sending troops to Ukraine will accelerate the collapse of his regime," Kabachuk said. Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine. In addition to the approximately 200 Belarusians currently fighting in Ukraine, hundreds more are said to be undergoing military training in Poland.
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Belarus' longtime leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka may have set up a trap on social media to capture citizens seeking to fight for Ukraine, opposition leaders have said.
Syarhey Hrybovich was arrested earlier this month on charges of inciting social hatred and preparing to participate in hostilities abroad, the pro-government Telegram channel reported on March 14.
In what appeared to be a videotaped confession, Hrybovich, 53, said he was detained after filling out a form on Telegram posted as a request to join other Belarusians in Ukraine.
At least 200 Belarusians are believed to have taken up arms to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. Hundreds more are interested in joining, according to a Belarusian recruitment group.
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Belarus has close relations with Russia, and Lukashenka allowed Russian forces to use his country as a staging ground for the February 24 offensive.
A Belarusian militia that calls itself the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion is using its Telegram channel to recruit people to fight with the Russian army in Ukraine and creating private conversations on the social media application to exchange private and direct messages with candidates. voluntarily.
He said he had not received any messages from Hrybovich through the chat and warned that he may have been the victim of a fake chat created by officials under Lukashenka. "If you are in Belarus or Russia - don't use your real name, hide your phone number from everyone, [or] better - buy a new SIM card," said Batalyon Kastus Kalinouski on the channel.
It is not the first time Belarusian authorities have taken such steps to arrest opposition activists and others opposed to Lukashenka, who claimed victory in an August 2020 election in which millions of voters were believed to have been rigged. , resulting in massive protests and merciless repression. continues. .
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Alyaksandr Azarau, a representative of ByPol, which brings together former Belarusian officers who support the opposition, said that the organization had in the past recorded fake conversations on Telegram to arrest Belarusians.
He said Belarusian authorities used an existing Telegram page to promote a fake scheme to attack officials and send links to private chats to those interested in participating. Dozens of people may have been arrested through the trick, Azarau said.
Some Belarusians like Alyaksey Skoblya have been fighting for Ukraine since 2014, when fighting broke out between Kremlin-backed separatists and government forces in the eastern Donbas region.
There are two Telegram channels inviting Belarusians to help Ukraine - the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion and one founded by opposition leader and restaurateur Vadzim Prakopieu. Everyone has their own chat address.
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However, ByPol found four chat addresses allegedly dedicated to helping Ukraine, showing that two of them were fake and may have been operated by the Interior Ministry's anti-terrorist fund. crime and corruption (GUBAZIK), said Azarau. .
Fake chats, which can be promoted on various news channels in Telegram, work in a similar way to spam e-mails, which means that they appear to be from a real company or organization. In some cases, the conversation is fake
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