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|July 27, 2022 – «Do you believe that they can shoot from the side of Belarus? – Never in my life!» That’s what we were told in the fall of 2021 in Ukrainian border villages on the border with Belarus. There have always been close family ties close to the borderline between Ukrainians and Belarusians. Also, people went to each other in the nearest district centers for shopping and commuted for work. They also did not hide their admiration for the self-proclaimed President Lukashenko as a «good manager» and collective farms in Belarusian villages.
Five months later, after the Russian Army attacked Ukraine from Belarus, we came to a village on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. We wanted to ask how people’s attitudes towards Belarusians and Lukashenko had changed here. Do they continue to communicate with their relatives? Do they regret the closed borders? Do they believe in a new attack? What memories remain of the visit of the Russian Army to the village? Find out in the report of Mariana Pietsukh.
September 6, 2022 – Belarus, a former Soviet Union republic, is the last dictatorship in Europe. Over recent weeks, the country has served as Russia’s rear base for its attack on Ukraine. Its president, Alexander Lukashenko, ally and accomplice of Vladimir Putin, seems even prepared to commit his own troops alongside Russian soldiers to take Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
Exceptionally, teams from Enquête Exclusive bring you an exclusive plunge into this little-known country that, since its independence in 1994, has consistently shaken the international order. On May 23 last year, Belarus hijacked a commercial airliner in the open skies to capture an opposition journalist. Last autumn, it triggered a migration crisis when it threatened to open its border with Poland to hundreds of thousands of refugees. Today, this totalitarian state is completed closed to the Western world.
The press is muzzled, the opposition hounded and gagged, freedoms shackled by an inflexible power. Several days before the invasion of Ukraine, our reporters entered the country undercover, passing themselves off as ordinary tourists. They were in Minsk, the capital, when Russia attacked Ukraine after massing its troops on the border. When filming the everyday lives of Belarussians they discovered a violent, intransigent police state that throws anyone who challenges the regime’s authority into prison.
Here, people live in terror and even the young remain silent. “In Belarus, you don’t talk to strangers, and especially not about politics, it’s too dangerous,” they confess. Our crews also visited a bordering country, Lithuania, to film those who have fled the country to escape prison. In Vilnius, we interviewed Svetlana Tikanovskaia, the foremost opposition leader. To get near her, you have to observe the strictest security protocol. Even abroad, this woman fears for her life.
Our reporters also investigated the Belarus president. For 30 years, Alexander Lukashenko has ruled his country with an iron fist and terrorized his people. His obsessions: remain in power by any means and authorize the return of Russian nuclear weapons onto his territory. At the time when Vladimir Putin, his ally, is doing his utmost to overthrow the Ukrainian government, we offer you an exceptional journey into a land that is already a vassal state of Russia. A foretaste of what awaits the Ukrainians if they are defeated.
October 5, 2022 – The Ukrainian Army, National Guard, and State Border Guard Service have been conducting joint exercises near the border with Belarus. The Ukrainian military demonstrated for journalists how their forces would handle an invasion from their northern neighbor Belarus.
October 15, 2022
December 15, 2022 – A sudden check of the combat readiness of the Armed Forces has begun in Belarus. The secretariat of the Security Council of the country noted that the measures will be comprehensive. It is about the organization of protection and defense of the territory. In addition, in a few days the Russian army transferred about 60 units of military equipment to Belarus. But the Ukrainian authorities are confident that there is no risk of another offensive from Belarus yet. Everything that is happening is information work to destabilize Ukraine.
December 19, 2022 – There were more missile attacks last night on Ukraine’s capital. They damaged part of the energy network and led to blackouts. The attacks came before a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko which sparked speculation that Russian ground forces might once again try to attack Kyiv.
December 21, 2022 – Ukraine is preparing for the possibility of a new, large-scale offensive by Russian forces. Russia continues to amass troops in neighboring Belarus, a country that Moscow has used as a launching ground to attack Ukraine. Thus far, Belarusian forces have not joined Russia’s war on Ukraine.
January 5, 2023 – Soldiers of the 100th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are guarding the north border of Ukraine in Volyn. The northernmost region of the West of Ukraine is one of the possible routes of another Russian attempt to invade Ukraine from Belarus. If the Russian offensive here succeeds it will be costly for Ukrainians – hampering logistics and cutting off Ukrainian forces from the support of Western allies. hromadske visited the soldiers in the winter snowy forest to find out how their everyday life is organized, how they organized the defensive line, what they think of the current situation as well how they asses the probability of attack from the Belarusian border.
January 9, 2023 – Things are getting out of control in Belarus: The Russian arsenal has been plundered!
February 27, 2023 – Belarusian anti-war partisans claim to have damaged Russian military aircraft Beriev A-50 with drones at the Machulishchy airfield, 12km from Minsk. The airborne early warning and control aircraft was attacked by munitions dropped by two drones. One of the nine AWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) aircraft of the Russian aerospace forces worth $330m was destroyed by drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusians. “(They have attained) ‘Victory’ and are now safely outside the country. Everyone has escaped,” said BYPOL, the Belarusian partisan organization.
March 2, 2023 – An update on the incident at Machulishchy Air Base, Belarus. Video shows a drone landing on the radome of an A-50U.
March 25, 2023 – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow struck a deal with neighboring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. Putin’s announcement on Saturday comes as tensions grow with the West over the Ukraine war and as some Russian commentators speculate about possible nuclear strikes.
March 27, 2023 – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya reacts to Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Moscow plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
April 29, 2023 – Vladimir Putin has an insane plan to restore the former borders of the Soviet Union – and his next step might be to backstab Belarus – Russia’s closest ally. We’ll also be discussing the Ukraine war and how it’s affected Russia and Belarus, as well as Vladimir Putin’s relationship with NATO and his vision for a restored Soviet Union. Belarus is a small country that is sandwiched between Russia and Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin doesn’t like that one bit. He’s been undermining Belarus ever since he came to power, and this latest plan has been revealed by a leaked document, where his administration will attempt to backstab Belarus and take control of the country. If this plan goes through, it could lead to war between Russia and Belarus, and possibly even NATO involvement.
May 29, 2023 – Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko has been taken to hospital in Moscow and is in critical condition after meeting Russian premier Vladimir Putin, according to reports in many news outlets. Citing unconfirmed reports, on may 27th Lukashenko’s opponent Valery Tsepkalo tweeted to say the 68-year-old Belarusian President was “urgently transported to Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital after his closed-door meeting with Putin.” In his latest tweet he claimed that The Kremlin has initiated “Cover-up” operation through spreading information about a scheduled medical examination of Lukashenko.
June 26, 2023 – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya reacts to the Kremlin’s statements that Yevgeny Prigozhin has agreed to leave Russia for Belarus after the Wagner’s Group rebellion in Russia.
June 27, 2023 – With Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Progozhin removed from Russia, one authoritarian leader is breathing a little easier – but another is perhaps starting to sweat. Belarussian President Lukashenko said that he’s ‘not a hero’ for brokering the deal that averted the mutiny – but hosting a mercenary leader with a taste for trouble might test the limits of Lukashenko’s hard-fought grip on Belarus.