Kurapaty defender chains himself to truck (live stream)

One of the participants of the “watch” at the Kurapaty memorial construction site, Syarhei Palcheuski, lay under the wheels of the truck and handcuffed himself to the bumper.

(UPD) Three hours later, masked men in the uniform of the Emergency Ministry came, cut the handcuffs and attempted to take him into their bus. The protesters prevented them from detaining Palcheuski.

Syarhei Palcheuski

 ‘I will lie here, until I die,” said Syarhei Palcheuski.
The man said that he understood that he had taken a radical step, but saw no other way to stop the construction.
The activist lay down on wet and cold ground wearin a raincoat, but he agreed to a rubber mat put underneath, “Radio Svaboda” reports. Palcheuski refused other assistance from those present, even warm tea.
The workers are standing near, Palcheuski’s act raised a smile. One of them insulted the activist saying that “if necessary, he would start the car”.
belsat.eu, Svaboda.org

March against ‘parasite’ decree held in Minsk

The last day of tax payment is February 20th. In the meantime, about
10% of “parasites” out of 460 thousand people singled out by the state
have paid the tax. Among the ‘parasites’ are migrant workers, students,
women on maternity leave, pensioners, people with disabilities, and even
the dead.


Many of them took to the street tonight. They gathered on the Kastrychnitskaya Square in the center of Minsk.


Several Belarusian opposition politicians were present at the
gathering. Pavel Sevyarynets, on 15 February who passed the results of
the initiative for the abolition of the decree on “parasites” to the
Presidential Administration.The survey was conducted by belsat.eu on its
page in social networks.


According to some estimates, several thousand protesters gathered on Kastrychnitskaya Square.


People chanted “Solidarity” and marched along Independence Avenue, heading towards the Ministry of Taxes and Duties.


The march took place to the sounds of hits from the bands like ‘Brutto’. with protesters singing along.


Mikola Statkevich, another prominent Belarusian activist, said that
if within a month the Decree N3 is not canceled the rally will repeat.


The rally lasted approximately 1.5 hours.



 http://belsat.eu/en/news/march-against-parasite-decree-held-in-minsk-photo-video/








belsat.eu

Dalia Grybauskaitė: ‘West-2017’ military drill worrying

Lithuanian President has spoken about the Belarusian-Russian military exercises to be held this year.
Ms Grybauskaite believes that the “West-2017” excercises demonstrate the preparation of Belarus and Russia to the war with the West.

“We see various threats, they are increasing, we are also anxious about the “West-2017″ drill, where numerous aggressive forces concentrate. It is a open preparation for war with the West,” said the Lithuanian President, talking with reporters in Riga.

According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, the threat from the East has forced the Baltic countries to ask partners for additional security guarantees, such as more rapid decision-making in NATO.
On February 9, the Head of Lithuanian Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence Vytautas Bakas said that the “West -2017” military exercise, apparently, will be the largest drill in the history held at the Lithuanian borders. In turn, Director of the State Security Department of Lithuania Darius Jauniškis said that these exercises will be a major challenge to the national security of Lithuania.
belsat.eu,  Ru.delfi.lt, photo Reuters, Ints Kalnins/ Forum

Ukraine’s bad experience: Belarus army has action plan in case of aggression – expert

The so-called ‘Russian World’ is coming closer to
Belarus and it does not seem to be peaceful, independent and
pro-government experts warn. Yury Tsaryk, a representative of Minsk-based Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Research, and Dzyans Ivashin, chief editor of the Belarusian service of the international OSINT community InformNapalm, are the guests of Belsat TV program Two vs. Two.

Will the Kremlin set off a war and invade our country
or just force Lukashenka to abandon Belarus without a single shot?
Opinions differ.

Yury Tsarik: After the events in
crimea and Donbas Belarus adopted a new defense plan and directive on
the protection of the state. Of course, they are classified, but as far
as I understand, the documents were adopted to avoid the situation that
Ukraine faced – when something happened to the supreme power and the
army did not know what to do. As far as I know, there are exact plans
provided for various scenarios, including the supreme commander [Alyaksandr Lukashenka]’s
having some misfortune <…> It was promoted to the level of
military doctrine, it is quite an interesting document <…>
[Belarusian Defense Minister] Andrey Ravkou openly said that the experience of the armed fighting in Ukraine had been taken into account during working on the doctrine.

Dzyanis Ivashyn: The plan will stall
as the entire General Staff is full of agents of Russian influence due
to the fact that they were trained in Russian military universities;
there are many people of Russian origin, Russians take senior command
positions. <…> Lukashenka is a hostage to the situation he has
built for two decades.

Host: Experts say that many patriots in the army…

Yury Tsaryk: The level of patriotism
in the Belarusian army is quite high, but I agree that there are lots
of problems as well. But considering the recent Crimean events, the
selection of personnel, particularly at the level of the General Staff,
was very careful. That is why I doubt that the plan will stall.

I think with you that we do have a problem with
personnel, especially at the local level, it is not being solved quickly
enough. In order to avoid causing an international scandal, we should
find a proper approach to our soldiers when saying to them that they
might have to fight in a potential war with Russia. It is clear that if a
new paradigm is put clumsily, the agents will spill the beans and the
Russian side will know about it very soon.

No matter how strong Russia’s pressure is, no matter
how aggressive its intentions are, we cannot head for a full-scale
confrontation with Russia. Therefore, we are talking about the way of
accurately and delicately building-up a system of inhibiting potential
aggression without destroying Belarus-Russia relations.

Host: Does it mean that Alyaksandr Lukashenka should remain in power?

Yury Tsaryk: I believe it is the nation who should decide during the next presidential election.

• Belarus checking combat readiness: 3,000 reservists recalled to active duty
• Snap drills or show of power? Belarus calling out reserve forces on massive scale
• In the run-up of wargame: Checkpoint in Zhodzina 

 Belsat.eu

Paintbrushes instead of guns (ENG subs)

Five well-known Belarusian artists and a Ukrainian one decided to
hold an open-air event in the eastern part of Ukraine, at the very front
line. They dedicated it to the memory of all those who had died for the
freedom of Ukraine, including Belarusians. They visited Pisky
settlement, known from the military news, which is 2 kilometers away
from Donetsk, and saw with their own eyes the destructive image of the
war. They were wearing helmets and flak jackets, working half a
kilometer from the positions of pro-Russian separatists.


Director Anton Tsyalezhnikau, Belsat TV, 2016