2023-05-26 14:00:00
Ukraine is investigating the role of Belarus in the “forcible movement” of children from the territories occupied by Russia, Reuters reported the other day, citing the Ukrainian Prosecutor General. Andrei Kostin. At the beginning of May, the “National Anti-Crisis Administration” (NAU) presented a report on the illegal movement of Ukrainian children to Belarus at meetings with the leadership of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament in Strasbourg. According to the head of NAU, deputy chairman of the Joint Transitional Cabinet Pavel Latushkathe document contains “more than 150 pages of the factual circumstances of the committed crimes, legal reasoning and evidence.”
Among those who worked on the document at the invitation of NAU is an American investigator Edward Snyder. In an interview with Svaboda, Snyder explained why he considers the actions of Lukashenka’s regime to contribute to genocide and who will be held responsible for this.
Briefly:
- Lukashenka’s regime is participating in Russia’s plan to undermine Ukrainian national identity in the occupied territories.
- Illegal removal of children from the occupied territory to another country without the consent of parents or legal representatives, if it is done with the aim of destroying national identity, is genocide.
- A new generation of “DPR soldiers” as well as spies and saboteurs is being trained from these children. The investigation showed that these minors are already being used in the war zone.
- In Belarus, the main people responsible for the removal of Ukrainian children are personally Lukashenka and his key ministers. The accomplices are the management of the “Belaruskali” company. For lower-level offenders, the only way to get a reduced prison term is to testify against bigger criminals.
— What’s wrong with the statements of the Belarusian authorities that these are humanitarian programs that help to heal children?
— Children from the Russian-occupied Donetsk region are brought to Belarus in rest camps, and the regime calls it “rehabilitation” and “rehabilitation.” In the photos and videos that the authorities give to the state media, there are many talent shows, sports and similar things.
But we know that in such totalitarian regimes as Lukashenka’s and Putin’s, everything is always deceptive. In the Donetsk region itself, children are brainwashed and taught that they are Russians and that Ukraine is evil. My investigation showed that children brought from the Donetsk region to Belarus continue to be Russified.
The “security forces” come to them and teach them that it is “cool” to be a soldier who will fight for the Russian side. They are taught that it is important to support the self-proclaimed so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”. This is all part of the Russian plan to undermine Ukrainian national identity in the occupied territories.
This is a war crime. After all, the children who are taken away are not yet at the age when they can make their own decisions. Children between the ages of 12 and 15 are mainly brought to Belarus. This is what the foundation does Alexey Talai, whose representatives stated that some of these children were orphans.
Illegal removal of children from the occupied territory to another country without the consent of parents or legal representatives, if it is done with the aim of destroying national identity, is genocide.
Photos and videos were published on the pages of the Saligorsk children’s camp “Dubrava” with the captions that the camp was visited by representatives of the 3rd brigade of the special forces of the internal forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus. They showed the children various exercises, including elements of hand-to-hand combat. It is likely that this is not an isolated case.
Among those who take care of this program of taking children to Belarus is a teacher of the cadet corps in Donetsk Alena Levitskaya. An interview Belarusian and Russian state media did with her. Some of the children who were brought from Donetsk to “Dubrava” study in the cadet corps.
– Do children stay in Belarus? Are they exported to Russia through Belarus?
– Most of the children I learned about were brought to Belarus from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and then taken back.
It is important to understand that there are actually two programs. The first is the forcible removal of children who are transferred to Russian families. It is mainly done with small children under 5 years of age. And the second is Russification and brainwashing programs for older children, mainly for teenagers.
A new generation of “DPR soldiers” as well as spies and saboteurs is being trained from these children. My investigation showed that these minors are already being used in the war zone for various purposes — to help with logistics, including working in military warehouses, to gather intelligence. All this directly violates the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the use of children in a war zone. And the authorities of Belarus actively contribute to these violations.
– Who is responsible for the removal of children?
– The main people responsible for the removal of Ukrainian children are the de facto leaders of Russia and Belarus. After all, this is not someone’s initiative at a lower level, but a systematic program of turning the next generation of Ukrainians into ethnic Russians. And this program is carried out according to orders Vladimir Putinbut also and Alexander Lukashenko.
The line of responsibility goes from the cadet corps and the camp through the “Belaruskali” association to Alexander Lukashenko himself. People from his circle actively participate in this program. Children are told to record videos in which they thank “generous President Lukashenka for a wonderful vacation in beautiful Belarus.”
All this is not done spontaneously. The organizations themselves, which are engaged in this, announce on their pages that this is being done at the behest of Lukashenka. It seems to me that they are doing this in order to shift responsibility from themselves if they are suddenly brought to court in the future.
Lukashenka may deny it, but I found evidence that directly links him to this program. There are photos, videos, documents – passports and transit documents. There is enough evidence for accusations against the self-proclaimed president of Belarus.
Apart from Lukashenka and his key ministers, the management of the “Belaruskali” company is complicit. After all, the main children’s camp used in the program, “Dubrava”, belongs to “Belaruskali”.
– Why did NAU invite you and how do you collect information?
– I was educated in the USA – I have a master’s degree in defense and strategic studies with an emphasis on military intelligence. When the war started in 2022, I came from Washington to Poland first, where I worked in a humanitarian program, where I was involved in risk assessment and logistics, and then for a few months I joined International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine as a scout. The legion consists mainly of volunteers from Western countries who responded to the call to fight for the freedom of Ukraine and the whole of Europe.
When the Kharkiv region was liberated last winter, I decided that my experience might be needed by other people, including Belarusians. Because I believe that the outcome of the war has already been determined. Ukraine will defeat Russia – it’s only a matter of time. I got the office contacts Pavel Latushka and joined his team as an independent investigator.
My investigation is ongoing, so I can’t talk about all the ways I’m gathering information. But mostly I take information from open sources — from social networks, state media. Here it is important to simply find it in piles of informational garbage and noise.
When information about this investigation reached Lukashenka’s administration, his propagandists changed the main story, pretending that it was an international, inclusive program.
— Can ordinary participants of the program believe that they are really participating in a good cause of helping children?
– In any genocide, there are always people who consciously want to remain uninformed. During the Nuremberg Trials, many Nazis said they were simply following orders or didn’t know what was going on.
But this is an extremely weak argument. Because if they asked at least one question, they would know everything. And in the future, the only way for these people to get a shorter prison term is to testify against bigger criminals. Against those who gave orders and were the creators of this genocide.
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