bojan Posted May 25, 2021 Posted May 25, 2021 (edited) That an opinion can change in a short period of time is not unknown and does not require any "fixing" of statistics. Edited May 25, 2021 by bojan
Roman Alymov Posted May 25, 2021 Posted May 25, 2021 9 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said: Its a non comparison. They didnt scramble jets, they didnt retain the person accused, they didnt torture him. So once again, its a wookie defence. Besides, if you are suggesting that what Ukraine does is right for all time, doubtless you will not complain when Belarusians force Lukashenko from office. Yes/No/Other? It is quite a comparison. They did threatened passenger airliner with combat aviation right from the beginning (see flight voice record provided by Belavia – yes, it is mostly in Russian, but it is normal for expert in Russian affairs to know enemy’s language) and it was no way for the crew to know if the fighter is close or not. The person they got was not even accused – it was just SBU suspicion he might be carrying USB drive with some compromising materials out of the country (but they found none). They have tortured plenty of other people. By the way nice guy whom Lukashenko got now is not only journalist, but also former Azov regiment member. I am not “suggesting that what Ukraine does is right for all time”, I am just pointing out Lukashenko actions are not something new – but when it was done by Western-sponsored regime in Kiev it was completely ok for you. As for me, Lukashenko is just another post-Soviet political leader who is de-facto anti-Russian (like, by the way, Yanukovich was) but milking two cows. He is trampling out pro-Russian political parties, jailing Donbass volunteers when they come home to Belarus etc. What I oppose is him being replaced by openly anti-Russian West-backed regime with strong Nazi component, as it was done in Ukraine.
Roman Alymov Posted May 25, 2021 Posted May 25, 2021 8 hours ago, seahawk said: Lukashenko gone would open the door for a re-unification of Belarus with Russia. It would be great. I'm affraid he will take some crazy anti-Russian steps to restore his ability to balance between West and Russia (probably with the same result as Yanukovich have achieved).
BansheeOne Posted May 26, 2021 Posted May 26, 2021 Quote Date 26.05.2021 Belarus: Lukashenko slams Western response to forced plane diversion The Belarusian leader said "ill-wishers" are "trying to strangle Belarus" in his first speech since a commercial flight was intercepted and a critical blogger arrested. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko hit out at Western powers on Wednesday, saying that his country's "ill-wishers" are "trying to strangle Belarus." It's the first time Lukashenko has spoken in public since a Ryanair plane was diverted over the weekend and dissident blogger Raman Pratasevich and law student Sofia Sapega were taken into custody. What did Lukashenko say? In his speech, Lukashenko said that "attacks" on Belarus have crossed "red lines." "As we predicted, our ill-wishers at home and abroad have changed their methods of attacking the state. They have crossed many red lines and crossed boundaries of common sense and human morality," Lukashenko said as he addressed members of parliament, the Belta state-run news agency reported. He also said that a bomb threat, which Belarusian authorities said was behind the plane's landing in Minsk, came from Switzerland, and that outside forces were waging a "hybrid war" against the country. Lukashenko additionally called it an "absolute lie" that a fighter jet forced the plane to land, and said Belarus had acted "lawfully, to protect people." "I acted lawfully to protect our people," he said, also accusing Pratasevich of planning to start a "bloody rebellion." [...] Minsk ordered the commercial plane flying over its airspace to land, claiming a bomb was onboard — an explanation German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called "completely implausible." The EU responded by slapping sanctions on Belarus, including a ban on Belarusian airlines using EU airspace or airports. Following Lukashenko's comments on Wednesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it was advising EU airlines, as well as non-EU carriers flying to or from the bloc, to avoid airspace above Belarus. "The circumstances surrounding this action cast serious doubts on the respect shown by Belarus for international civil aviation rules," the EASA said in a safety bulletin. "The actions undertaken by Belarus amounted to an increased safety risk for the [Ryanair] flight and put into question the ability of Belarus to provide safe air navigation services." [...] https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-lukashenko-slams-western-response-to-forced-plane-diversion/a-57665890 Quote Belarus flights redirected after Roman Protasevich's arrest Published 16 hours ago Several European airlines have said that they will not fly over Belarus, days after a dissident journalist was arrested on a flight diverted to Minsk. Ukraine and Poland are stopping all flights to and from the country, while the UK is preventing Belarusian airlines from entering its airspace. Western countries accuse Belarus of hijacking the Ryanair plane carrying journalist Roman Protasevich on Sunday. The Greece-Lithuania flight was rerouted over a supposed bomb threat. [...] On Tuesday, the Belarusian transport ministry released a transcript of a conversation said to be between an air traffic controller in Minsk and a pilot on Sunday's Ryanair flight. According to the transcript, which has not been independently verified, Belarus suggested several times that the plane should land in Minsk on "our recommendation". This appeared to contradict earlier statements from the Belarusian authorities that said the decision to land was made independently by the pilot. What's happening in the air? At the Brussels summit, EU leaders told the bloc's airlines not to fly over Belarus. They have also asked member states to suspend operating permits for its national carrier Belavia. Air France said it had "suspended overflights of Belarusian airspace until further notice". Finnish airline Finnair also announced a ban. Air France's Dutch subsidiary KLM, along with German carrier Lufthansa, Scandinavia's SAS and others, announced similar suspensions on Monday. Singapore Airlines also said it was rerouting flights to avoid Belarus. Meanwhile Polish national airline Lot said it had suspended both overflights and flights to and from Minsk, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukrainian carriers were banned from flying over or into Belarus. The UK, meanwhile, said Belarusian airlines would not be allowed to enter its airspace unless they had specific authorisation. Belavia said it was suspending flights to the UK and France until 30 October. [...] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57239162
glenn239 Posted May 26, 2021 Posted May 26, 2021 But if they won't fly to Belarus, then doesn't that just make Moscow the air hub for Belarus, which is exactly what Putin wants?
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 26, 2021 Posted May 26, 2021 No, they will fly to Vilnius which is a lot closer. Vilnius is practically on the Belarus border.
Josh Posted May 26, 2021 Posted May 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said: No, they will fly to Vilnius which is a lot closer. Vilnius is practically on the Belarus border. Except that I think Lithuania has already discontinued flights. Moscow *will* be the central travel hub now that most everyone else has banned Belarus. I'm not sure anyone on either side gives a shit; its a minor thing either way. I doubt lukashanko particularly cares.
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 26, 2021 Posted May 26, 2021 I'm merely suggesting that it's probably easier to get a flight to Vilnius and to drive over the border.
BansheeOne Posted May 29, 2021 Posted May 29, 2021 Quote Date 29.05.2021 Belarus: US to impose sanctions over plane diversion The US has said it's working with partners in the EU on a list of punitive measures targeting key members of the Belarusian government. The move is a response to the arrest of a dissident journalist on a Ryanair flight. The White House on Friday said the United States will target officials and businesses in Belarus with sanctions in response to an incident last week during which Belarusian authorities forced a commercial flight to land in Minsk and arrested a journalist on board. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki slammed the flight diversion as "a direct affront to international norms," in a statement released late on Friday. What are the new US measures? Psaki said the US is working with the EU and "other allies" to draw up a list of targeted sanctions against key members of President Alexander Lukashenko's government "associated with ongoing abuses of human rights and corruption, the falsification of the 2020 election, and the events of May 23." The US will also re-impose "full blocking sanctions" against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises, which are companies that had been previously granted sanctions relief by the US Treasury Department. Under the updated measures, people in the US will no longer be able to carry out transactions "with these entities, their property, or their interests in property." The White House said these measures will come into effect on June 3. The US Treasury Department is also developing a new executive order to give the US "increased authorities to impose sanctions on elements" of the regime, and "those that support corruption, the abuse of human rights, and attacks on democracy." This executive order will be reviewed by US President Joe Biden. In addition to the sanctions, the White House issued a "do not travel" warning for Belarus to US citizens. It also warned US passenger planes to "exercise extreme caution" if considering flying over Belarusian airspace. [...] https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-us-to-impose-sanctions-over-plane-diversion/a-57710641 Quote Freezing Payments and Halting Exports How the EU Wants to Sanction Belarus The European Union seems strongly determined to sanction Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko after his country forced a Ryanair jet to land so it could arrest an exiled dissident. But leading diplomats fear the moves could exacerbate an already bad situation. By Markus Becker in Brussels 28.05.2021, 23.30 Uhr It was important to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas that the European Union act strongly. What Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has done "is so unacceptable" that the EU "cannot be satisfied with just small sanctions steps,” Maas said at a meeting with his EU counterparts. He said that if Lukashenko doesn’t bend – by, for example, releasing more than 400 political prisoners – he will be threatened with "the beginning of a large and long spiral of sanctions.” The EU has shown strong determination in the wake of Lukashenko’s move to intercept a Ryanair plane last Sunday and arrest Roman Protasevich, the Belarusian journalist who was onboard. This week, EU leaders moved with unusual speed to begin the process of imposing sanctions on the regime. But now the EU has to back up its words with actions – and that could prove tricky. Eighty-eight individuals and seven organizations have already been placed on the EU’s Belarus sanctions list, including Lukashenko himself. According to diplomats, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has been working for some time on a fourth sanctions list, which could be agreed on by EU foreign ministers on June 21. But even that, Brussels officials concede, is unlikely to impress Lukashenko. And that is prompting EU member states to discuss even more drastic sanctions now. Maas said "the economic structure and payment transactions” in Belarus also need to be targeted. Borrell has also spoken of measures against entire sectors of the economy, which would represent a significant escalation over sanctions currently in place. It would replace precision strikes with more blanket measures. It’s still unclear which economic sectors could be included. Petroleum products would be an option – Germany alone bought up Belarus’ entire crude oil exports in 2019 at a value of almost 600 million euros. Belarus is also one of the world’s largest producers of potassium fertilizers. "It would hurt Lukashenko a lot if we could get something done here,” says Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. But sanctions could also result in economic damage to companies in the EU. Brussels also wants to avoid sanctions that hit the Belarusian population directly. That’s also a reason that EU funding continues to flow to Belarus. The European Commission says it provided 34 million euros in aid in 2019 and around 37 million in 2020, the year of Lukashenko’s election fraud. Parts of the funding were stopped after the elections in August, but not those funds that "directly benefit the Belarusian population or are in the offensive interest of the EU” in terms of civil society or independent media, said a European Commission spokeswoman. Diplomats in Brussels cite another argument against blanket sanctions: concern about Russia’s growing influence. More than 40 percent of Belarusian exports already go to the country, and Minsk gets 57 percent of its total exports from Vladimir Putin’s empire. EU sanctions could exacerbate that dependency. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has even warned of the possible annexation of Belarus. "It’s Crimea, just on a bigger scale.” But Sergey Lagodinsky says that is no excuse. "Lukashenko has long been in Putin's arms," says Lagodinsky, who is a German member of the European Parliament with the Green Party. "The EU negotiated with Lukashenko as a dictator, but it can no longer do so with Lukashenko as a terrorist,” he says. In addition to stopping the imports of potassium fertilizer, he says, the EU should consider cutting Belarus off from the international payment system SWIFT. Will such steps be taken? So far, the EU states are sticking to the hard line agreed at the summit. "But no one is going to swear to anything until the concrete proposals for sanctions are presented,” says one diplomat. https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/freezing-payments-and-halting-exports-how-the-eu-wants-to-sanction-belarus-a-f2edb21a-39f1-45e1-8735-f6790ad52c29
Adam Peter Posted May 31, 2021 Posted May 31, 2021 Was the journalist really an Azov Battalion alumni?
Roman Alymov Posted May 31, 2021 Posted May 31, 2021 4 hours ago, bojan said: All those pics are a bit hard to fake. Not only photos but interviews etc. Actually there is nothing strange in “liberal opposition” activists taking part in open Nazi organizations: In Russia, Navaly tried the career of ethno nationalist leader before turning to more profitable business of “anti-corruption activist”.
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 31, 2021 Posted May 31, 2021 Yes folks, you heard it here first. Russia is actually threatening to use force to make foreign airlines land in Belarus.🤣🤣
wilhelm Posted May 31, 2021 Posted May 31, 2021 (edited) Where does it say it is to make foreign airlines land in Belarus??? Oh wait...this is Stuart. I mean, it's well known on TN that when it comes to anything Russia related, your dishonesty, hatred, and truth twisting knows no limits, but this is ridiculous. Even by your ridiculous standards. Russia Bad. Bad Russia. Edited May 31, 2021 by wilhelm
Mistral Posted May 31, 2021 Posted May 31, 2021 It seems Belarus has sent KGB agents in another country to capture another dissident and bring him back covvertly to the country. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57304094
Stefan Kotsch Posted May 31, 2021 Posted May 31, 2021 From now on, of every opponent of the government the teeth will be knocked out. >>The homeland hears you<<
BansheeOne Posted June 5, 2021 Posted June 5, 2021 Quote Date 03.06.2021 Belarus: Raman Pratasevich appears in another prison video The journalist, arrested aboard a Ryanair flight, said in the video on state TV that staging protests now would be pointless, urging the opposition to wait for a more opportune moment. A dissident journalist arrested when Belarus diverted his flight appeared again in a video broadcast by Belarusian state media late Wednesday. Raman Pratasevich had admitted to charges of organizing protests in a video aired last week. Belarusian opposition said the 26-year-old journalist was pressured to appear in the confession video. His parents, who now live in Poland, said the confession seemed to be coerced. Nevertheless, the state-controlled ONT channel aired another sit-down with the captive activist late on Wednesday. What did Pratasevich say? In his latest appearance, Pratasevich said he saw no point in protesting in Belarus against President Alexander Lukashenko at the moment, saying that the movement has lost impetus. Instead, he argued, the opposition should wait until economic problems trigger broad public discontent. "We need to wait until the economic situation worsens... and people take to the street for a mug of soup, to put it bluntly,'' he said. Pratasevich also said that an unidentified associate had set him up. He explained that he had put a notice about his travel plans in a chat with associates some 40 minutes before his departure. He speculated that someone with whom he had a personal conflict could have issued the bomb threat, which Belarusian officials at the time claimed as the reason why they forced the flight to land in Minsk. "The first thing I thought was that I have been set up,'' Pratasevich said. Ties to the opposition? Pratasevich accused the unidentified associate of having links with opposition hackers who had previously attacked Belarusian official websites and issued bomb threats. According to the Associated Press, Pratasevich had noted last month that he had a rift with Franak Viachorka, an adviser to opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Commenting on the video, Viachorka told AP that Pratasevich's comments should be disregarded because he is now "a hostage under pressure," insisting the two had friendly ties. There was no immediate response from Tsikhanouskaya. [...] https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-raman-pratasevich-appears-in-another-prison-video/a-57767727 Quote Date 03.06.2021 Belarus to cut US diplomatic staff over sanctions The decision to curb US diplomatic staff and tighten visa procedures comes comes after Washington imposed sanctions against companies in Belarus. Belarus on Thursday announced that the United States would have to cut the number of diplomatic and administrative staff at its mission in capital city Minsk. The former soviet country also said it was tightening visa procedures for US citizens working there and had revoked permission for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to work in the country. The Belarusian government, headed by strongman Alexander Lukashenko, said it made the decision after the US reimposed a number of sanctions on officials and businesses in recent months. Belarus slams US sanctions In a statement, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Anatoly Glaz, said that US punitive measures would only "hurt ordinary Belarus citizens." "These actions are illegal, contradict international law and are aimed at putting pressure on a sovereign state," he said in the statement. [...] https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-to-cut-us-diplomatic-staff-over-sanctions/a-57773161 Quote Date 04.06.2021 EU bans Belarus carriers from its airspace The European Union will also forbid EU aircraft from flying over Belarus. A wider sanctions package targeting Belarus is expected this month. The EU agreed Friday to ban Belarus-flagged carriers from the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc and will not permit EU airlines to fly over Belarus. The new civilian aviation ban is to sanction Belarus for diverting to Minsk a Ryanair flight that was traveling from Athens to Vilnius in order to arrest a prominent dissident blogger, Raman Pratasevich, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sepaga. An EU statement noted the extent of the ban on Belarusian aviation, requiring member countries "to deny permission to land in, take off from or overfly their territories," and is set to come into effect at midnight Central European Time on Friday. Saturday is the first day the ban will be applied. EU ministers agreed last month to sanction the Belarus aviation sector over the May 23 incident. How have civil aviation bodies responded to the new rules? The European Union Aviation Safety Administration (EASA) said in a statement that while it understands the additional cost and effort to airlines, the ban is needed "to reduce the potential risk to passengers and crews that could arise from operations in this airspace." However, International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief Willie Walsh was critical of both Minsk and the EU for politicizing civilian air travel. IATA members include 290 airlines which account for more than four-fifths of air traffic internationally. "Two wrongs do not make a right," Walsh said, adding, "Politics should never interfere with the safe operation of aircraft and politicians should never use aviation safety as a cover to pursue political or diplomatic agendas." What further sanctions against Belarus are expected? EU diplomats are at work on an expanded blacklist. The new list is expected to include about 10 officials involved in diverting the airplane as well as dozens of others involved in the violent suppression of civil society since disputed elections last August. Key industries in Belarus such as fertilizer production will be targeted, as will Belarusian access to the bond market in Europe. The broader sanctions package could come into effect later this month. The EU has already hit 88 Belarusian officials with visa bans and asset freezes, including President Alexander Lukashenko who proclaimed himself the winner of the August presidential election, widely considered to be mired by fraud and deemed unfree by the international community. Belarus faced further widespread condemnation from the international community Friday after state television aired a lengthy coerced confession by dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich on Wednesday evening where he was speaking under clear signs of duress. https://www.dw.com/en/eu-bans-belarus-carriers-from-its-airspace/a-57783485 Quote Date 02.06.2021 Germany-Russia flights resume after air traffic suspension Flights between Germany and Russia are back on after a brief suspension earlier on Wednesday in an an apparent tit-for-tat move. Flights between Germany and Russia resumed later on Wednesday after both countries suspended airline connections in an apparent tit-for-tat move as a part of diplomatic spat over Belarus. German airline Lufthansa told news agency AFP that the Russian authorities had finally granted it clearance for passenger flights to Russia in June. "That means Lufthansa flights to Moscow and Saint Petersburg can be operated as planned," said a spokeswoman for the airline. In Russia, Mikhail Poluboyarinov, chief executive of Aeroflot told the TASS news agency: "Everything is fine, we have received all the authorizations." And another Russian airline, S7, said it too had received clearance for its flights to land in Germany. What happened earlier on Wednesday? The German Transport Ministry had said earlier in the day it had blocked flights operated by Russian airlines from arriving in its territory It came after Lufthansa had to cancel flights on Wednesday because they did not receive Russian permission in time, according to the ministry. Flight tracking data showed several canceled Aeroflot flights and at least one canceled S7 flight between Moscow and St Petersburg and various Germany cities. What did the German government say? "Due to the reciprocal practice, the federal aviation authority also did not issue any further permits for flights operated by Russian airlines as long as authorizations are pending on the Russian side," the German Transport Ministry told AFP news agency. In a statement to Russian news agency Interfax, it said: "The Federal Ministry of Transport and the German embassy are in close contact with Russian agencies regulating aviation. As soon as the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency gives permission for Lufthansa flights, Russian aircraft will be allowed to fly," the spokeswoman said. According to the ministry, three Aeroflot flights were affected by the cancellations on Tuesday and four were affected on Wednesday. Russia suspended bilateral agreements on airline traffic in March 2020, with flights approved on a monthly charter basis and reciprocally. [...] https://www.dw.com/en/germany-russia-flights-resume-after-air-traffic-suspension/a-57757954 Quote Date 04.06.2021 Author Tatyana Nevedomskaya, Magdalena Gwozdz-Pallokat Belarus issues Nazi smear against WWII Polish resistance fighters Belarusian officials have described the members of Poland's wartime resistance army as "fascist criminals" and launched proceedings. Warsaw is outraged. Belarus first began to put members of the country's ethnic Polish minority under pressure and arrested leading representatives at the beginning of this year. Now the country's prosecutors are turning their attention to the resistance fighters of the Polish Home Army (AK). Belarusian Attorney General Andrei Schwed has called the fighters who took on the German occupying forces during the Second World War "fascist criminals." There cannot be many former members of the Polish Home Army still around to hear the Belarusian authorities' claim. One of them is 90-year-old Veronika Sebastianowicz, a member of the Association of the Soldiers of the Home Army in Belarus. She was just 13 when she joined the AK. She was arrested and tortured six years after the end of World War Two, but she survived deportation to a Soviet gulag. She told the daily Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that she preferred not to comment on what the attorney general had said, but stressed that she was not afraid. On April 9, the Belarusian authorities opened a criminal case against former AK members, accusing them of committing "genocide against the Belarusian people" during the Second World War. In mid-May, Schwed spoke about the first results on the state TV channel, Belarus 1. He said he had information about surviving "Nazi criminals" and that they were primarily members of "Lithuanian SS battalions and the Polish Home Army." Schwed announced that he was making the relevant requests for judicial assistance from Poland. The AK was a volunteer army that was formed from resistance cells in German-occupied Poland. Hundreds of thousands joined the movement set up in 1942, three years after the country was invaded. Since the collapse of communism, the Home Army has been officially celebrated in Poland, and Minsk's Nazi comparisons have sparked outrage. The Polish Foreign Ministry says Warsaw has asked the Belarusian government to clarify whether the attorney general's words represent the leadership's "official line" or were intended as a PR stunt. Poland is concerned about the clear rise in tensions in bilateral relations, it says. A war of disinformation? Michal Dworczyk, the head of the Polish prime minister's office, described it as a further stage in Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's "war of disinformation." The Belarusian attorney general also agrees that there is a propaganda war taking place. But Schwed says it is being waged by states "who participated in the mass destruction of Belarusians and others during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war era" and who were aiming to "distort historical events." In addition, he said these countries were attempting to destabilize the rule of law in Belarus and were resorting to "radicalism and various forms of extremism" to that end. Historians on both sides of the border think that the idea that the Polish underground army could have also acted as an accomplice to Adolf Hitler is way off the mark. Belarusian historian Ihar Melnikau, for example, told Rzeczpospolita that the AK was answerable to the Polish government in exile in London and part of the anti-Nazi coalition. "You might accuse it of nationalism and fighting for a Poland within the borders of 1939, but it was on no account a fascist organization," he said. Polish fellow historian Janusz Marszalec called Minsk's Nazi comparisons "downright absurd." "I don't think that anyone in the world will believe that the Polish Home Army worked hand-in-hand with the Germans to terrorize the country and carry out any kind of 'pacification' operations." Polish Home Army controversial in Belarus There are, admittedly, a few records of atrocities being carried out by AK members. Marszalec said that historians had, however, not shied away from examining them, citing murders of Jewish citizens and an "act of retaliation" carried out by a "Vilnius brigade" of the Home Army in Lithuania. But the Polish historian was insistent that these were isolated incidents. He said that he was not aware of any involving Belarus and that there was widespread consensus among historians that the AK was generally to be judged in a positive light. "The Home Army was not saintly and, of course, its soldiers committed deeds during the Second World War that could be described as war crimes," according to Belarusian historian Alexander Pashkevich. "If you wanted to, you could find a lot of evidence that innocent people died because of them and that people with weapons, in general, committed all kinds of atrocities. But we know how brutal this war on our territory was and we can say with certainty that both sides were guilty of such acts. But it is a great exaggeration to say that the Home Army carried out genocide against the Belarusians as part of a deliberate agenda," he said. The Belarusians have mixed feelings about the Home Army. The politics of memory cultivated by the Soviet system, Pashkevich said, was designed to paint a negative image of the AK because it was regarded as an ideological enemy. Not much has changed in this regard in independent Belarus, he added. [...] What has played into the hands of Lukashenko and his propaganda machinery is the fact that under Poland's Law and Justice Party (PiS), a cult has grown up around the anti-communist underground of the post-war era. It focuses on people like Romuald Rajs, nicknamed "Bury." The controversial resistance fighter and AK member was also the leader of a paramilitary unit and is accused of being responsible for the murder of dozens of members of the Orthodox minority in Belarus. The PiS has honored Rajs since taking power, and the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the country's state-run historical research institute, has called into question the accusations leveled against him. Nationalist groups regularly parade in commemoration of "Bury" through those villages in eastern Poland where people still remember his atrocities. Yet the crimes that the former AK fighter is accused of took place in 1946. At that point, the AK had already been disbanded and some of its veterans, like "Bury," had radicalized as a result of the imposition of communist rule in Poland. https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-issues-nazi-smear-against-wwii-polish-resistance-fighters/a-57764143
R011 Posted June 5, 2021 Posted June 5, 2021 No doubt Belorussian partisans and Soviet authorities treated ethnic Poles and others with only the most fraternal of comradely relations.
Stuart Galbraith Posted June 5, 2021 Posted June 5, 2021 Considering Belarus sits on illegally acquired Polish territory, you might think this is a box that they would fear to open. But clearly not.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now