{"id":49833,"date":"2022-05-22T15:17:18","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T15:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/05\/22\/belarusians-join-war-seeking-to-free-ukraine-and-themselves\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:16:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:16:50","slug":"belarusians-join-war-seeking-to-free-ukraine-and-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/05\/22\/belarusians-join-war-seeking-to-free-ukraine-and-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusians join war seeking to free Ukraine and themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WARSAW, Poland \u2014 One is a restaurateur who fled Belarus when he learned he was about to be arrested for criticizing President Alexander Lukashenko. Another was given the choice of either denouncing fellow opposition activists or being jailed. And one is certain his brother was killed by the country\u2019s security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What united them is their determination to resist Lukashenko by fighting against Russian forces in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusians are among those who have answered a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for foreign fighters to go to Ukraine and join the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine<\/a>. And volunteers have answered that call<\/a>, given the high stakes in a conflict which many people see as a civilizational battle pitting dictatorship against freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Belarusians, who consider Ukrainians a brethren nation, the stakes feel especially high. Russian troops used Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine early in the war, and Lukashenko has publicly stood by longtime ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing him as his \u201cbig brother.\u201d Russia, for its part, has pumped billions of dollars into shoring up Lukashenko\u2019s Soviet-style, state-controlled economy with cheap energy and loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weakening Putin, the Belarusian volunteers believe, would also weaken Lukashenko, who has held power since 1994, and create an opening to topple his oppressive government<\/a> and bring democratic change to the nation of nearly 10 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many of the Belarusians, their base is Poland, a country along NATO\u2019s eastern flank that borders Belarus and Ukraine and which became a haven for pro-democracy Belarusian dissidents before becoming one for war refugees from Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the fighters are already in Poland, and some only pass through briefly in transit on their way to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Belarus regiment leader, Vadim Prokopiev, left, Polish instructor, Dariusz Tomysek, center, and a volunteer from Belarus speak during a training session at a shooting range near Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, May 20, 2022. (Michal Dyjuk\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe understand that it\u2019s a long journey to free Belarus and the journey starts in Ukraine,\u201d said Vadim Prokopiev, a 50-year-old businessman who used to run restaurants in Minsk. He fled the country after a rumor spread that he would be arrested for saying publicly that the government wasn\u2019t doing enough for small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the Ukraine war will be eventually over, our war will just start. It is impossible to free the country of Belarus without driving Putin\u2019s fascist troops out of Ukraine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prokopiev heads a unit called \u201cPahonia\u201d that in recent days has been training recruits. The Associated Press interviewed him as he oversaw an exercise that involved firing pistols and other weapons into old cars in simulations of war scenarios. They were being trained by a Polish ex-police officer who is now a private shooting instructor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prokopiev wants his men to gain critical battle experience, and he hopes that one day soon a window of opportunity will open for democratic change in Belarus. But he says it will require fighters like himself to be prepared, and for members of the security forces in Belarus to turn against Lukashenko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massive street protests against a 2020 election widely seen as fraudulent were met with a brutal crackdown, leading to Prokopiev\u2019s belief that no \u201cvelvet revolution\u201d can be expected there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPower from Lukashenko can only be taken by force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t