Railway tracks in Belarus
On March 24, exactly one month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Vitaly Melnik set fire to trackside railway electrical cabinets, resulting in massive delays for 22 freight and 17 passenger trains. Earlier this month, a regional court in Belarus convicted Melnik, a 40-year-old man from Minsk, to 13 years in a maximum security colony.
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Sign up to our free daily newsletter.Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Melnik had also "posted negative messages on the Internet about [Belarusian President] Alexander Lukashenko," announced the prosecutor.
On Dec. 27, three other Belarusian citizens were sentenced to prison for terms of 21 to 23 years. Their crime? Trying to prevent the transportation of military equipment to Ukraine during the early days of the Russian invasion.
The main target for those in Belarus who want to resist the war are the railroads. These are crucial because they are used to transport Russian military equipment and ammunition on the territory of Belarus. It’s a phenomenon that’s becoming known as the "rail war".
An unpopular war
Since the first days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Belarus (a neighbor of both countries) has been sharply divided. Belarus has traditionally been a strong Russian ally. The government has sided with Vladimir Putin, though it has not yet officially engaged in clashes with the Ukrainian army.
But the majority of the population supports neither war nor Lukashenko. According to a Chatham House poll conducted in August, 45% of Belarusians do not support war with Ukraine. And many Belarusian citizens are playing an active part in making sure Russia loses.
Belarusian opposition activist Franak Viacorka says: "Since the beginning of the war, 30,000 people have signed up for… a mobilization plan for organizing various actions on the railroad, roads, and administration sites.”
The news feed regularly features news about sabotage on Belarusian railroads and military units, all of which are actions by Belarusian war objectors.
National pride of spies and sabotage
During World War II, most of Belarus was under German occupation from 1941 to 1944. The only way to fight Nazi Germany was sabotage and reconnaissance. These years of occupation and resistance greatly influenced the formation of the national identity of the Belarusians. At the time of the USSR, Belarusian resistance was the stuff of legends.
It is important to note that any resistance to the war with Ukraine in Belarus is mostly motivated by self-interest. They are motivated for the sake of their own country, by the idea of an independent and sovereign Belarus without dictators or life and freedom ultimately controlled by the Kremlin.
Ukraine has mined the entire forested area on the border.
The actions of the Belarusian resistance and the anti-war mood in society, coupled with the fact that Lukashenko holds power in the country by force, have resulted in the Belarusian dictator not daring to enter into open warfare with Ukraine, even under pressure from Putin.
Ukraine has mined the entire forested area on the border with Belarus so that an overland attack would be fatal for Lukashenko. In addition, the mood among the officers of the Belarusian army is different from that of the country’s elites: the actual army command does not support Lukashenko and does not want to oppose Ukraine.
"The mood of the officers in the Belarusian army differs from that of the political leadership in Belarus,” says Ivan Yakubets, former commander of the airborne assault troops of Ukraine. “There is no stable environment and mutual understanding between the political and military leadership, especially at a middle management level. And they lead the troops into battle, not the generals."- The Death Of Belarus' Foreign Minister Makei Tightens Kremlin Grip On Lukashenko ›
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