WARSAW, Poland — One is a restaurateur who fled Belarus when he realized he was about to be arrested for criticizing President Alexander Lukashenko. Another is for certain his brother was killed by the nation’s safety forces.
What united them is their willpower to withstand Lukashenko by preventing towards Russian forces in Ukraine.
Belarusians are amongst those that have answered a name by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for overseas fighters to go to Ukraine and be part of the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
For the Belarusians, who contemplate Ukrainians a brethren nation, the stakes really feel particularly excessive.
Russian troops used Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine early within the struggle, and Lukashenko has publicly stood by longtime ally Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing him as his “big brother.”
Weakening Putin, the Belarusian volunteers consider, would additionally weaken Lukashenko, who has held energy since 1994, and create a gap to topple his oppressive authorities and convey democratic change to the nation of almost 10 million.
For most of the Belarusians, their base is Poland, a rustic on NATO’s japanese flank that borders Belarus and Ukraine and which has develop into a haven for pro-democracy Belarusian dissidents earlier than turning into one for struggle refugees from Ukraine.
“We understand that it’s a long journey to free Belarus and the journey starts in Ukraine,” mentioned Vadim Prokopiev, a 50-year-old businessman who used to run eating places in Minsk. He fled the nation after a rumor unfold that he can be arrested for saying publicly that the federal government wasn’t doing sufficient for small companies.
“When the Ukraine war will be eventually over, our war will just start. It is impossible to free the country of Belarus without driving Putin’s fascist troops out of Ukraine,” he mentioned.
The 2020 presidential election in Belarus was extensively seen as fraudulent, however huge avenue protests towards Lukashenko being awarded a sixth time period had been met with a brutal authorities crackdown, resulting in Prokopiev’s perception that no “velvet revolution” might be anticipated in Belarus.
“Power from Lukashenko can only be taken by force,” he mentioned.
On Saturday, males with one other unit, Kastus Kalinouski, gathered in Warsaw within the Belarus House, the place sleeping luggage, mats and different Ukraine-bound tools had been piled excessive. They sat collectively, speaking and snacking on chocolate and occasional as they ready to deploy to Ukraine later within the day.
Organizing the Kastus Kalinouski recruits was Pavel Kukhta, a 24-year-old who already fought in Ukraine’s Donbas area in 2016, struggling burns and the lack of most of his listening to in a single ear.
Kukhta mentioned his half-brother, Nikita Krivtsov, was discovered useless by hanging in a wooded space outdoors Minsk in 2020. Police mentioned there was no proof of foul play however Kukhta says he and the remainder of the household are sure Krivtsov was killed for becoming a member of the anti-Lukashenko protests.
But he insisted that his help for Ukraine shouldn’t be about revenge, solely about preventing for democratic change.
“If Putin is defeated, Lukashenko will be defeated,” he mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”