Senior members of the Belarusian opposition in exile report a wave of resignations at the top of the Belarusian army, and the mass exodus of hundreds of young people of conscription age outside the country's borders.
The wave of defections and resignations prevented the Belarusian army from invading Ukraine last week, as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to take over Ukraine.
Franak Vyachorka, senior adviser to the Belarussian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhnovsky, told Israel Today that according to information they received, Putin's plan was for Belarus to join the invasion in its early days, but the plan went awry after several military officers resigned.
Officers who managed to escape from Belarus contacted the opposition.
"We know that there is a very high level of demoralization among army officers," said Vyacheslavka, a resident of Vilnius. The Baltic.
"In recent days we have seen increasing pressure from military unit commanders not to intervene in the fighting in Ukraine. Some officers have gone on sick leave, others are seeking to terminate their contracts in the military, even at the cost of reimbursing all expenses of their military service.
"The big problem for them is that they have no practical way to leave Belarus. In the past they could go to Georgia, but now all flights from Belarus there have been canceled for the next six months. There are no flights to Western Europe and it is very difficult to get flights to Istanbul. "Legalize the border with neighboring countries. Many officers are not yet ready to take such a step."
Burning building in Kharkiv, Photo: AFP
According to Vyachorka, the great wave of defection began in 2020 after the falsification of the results of the presidential election and the brutal repression of the popular protest against the regime.
"Now there is a new wave," he emphasizes, "there are ways to leave Belarus, but they are dangerous and expensive. So far Belarus has set up its military infrastructure to help the Russians, but Belarusian units have not entered Ukrainian territory. Beyond that, we see units stationed nearby "The border with Ukraine has been returned to their bases. It seems that the decisions to involve the Belarusian army in the fighting have been changed as a result of pressure from the high-ranking officers, and the refusal of simple soldiers to fight."
On the other hand, many Belarusian fighters - on the order of five army units - joined the ranks of the Ukrainian army, to fight the Russians.
The "partisan" movement of opponents of the regime in Belarus is deploying its people across the country to thwart the deployment of Russian military forces in Belarus in preparation for the invasion of Ukraine.
Among the names of senior members of the Belarusian military establishment who have resigned, according to opposition sources, is Belarusian army chief of staff Viktor Golevich. Against Ukraine.
Recall that the dictatorial president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, last week denied intent to join the fighting in Ukraine alongside Russia.
However, human rights organizations have been reporting in recent days that Belarusian men aged 58-18 are required to report to recruitment bureaus and register.
They are obliged to keep their passports in the hands of the authorities, in order to make it difficult for them to escape from the country, as well as the mobile phones.
They should also appear in the recruitment bureaus with their families, who are threatened with punitive measures if the recruiters do not show up when called to the flag.
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