Russian riot police trucks have been spotted moving toward the Belarusian border a day after dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Russia is ready to help him crush the ongoing protests in the country.
On Aug. 16, the independent Russian news site Fontanka published photos of the trucks moving from St. Petersburg towards Belarus. Soon, multiple amateur videos of similar vehicles moving towards the border were published online.
In the videos, at least 30 police trucks without insignia and vehicle registration plates can be seen on the move. They were last filmed in Russia 43 kilometers east of the Belarusian border.
The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a Russian independent investigative unit, confirmed the authenticity of the videos.
“The nominal capacity of one police wagon is 20 people, meaning that at least 600 fighters could be transported from St. Petersburg alone,” CIT wrote in an official statement.
“The total number of Belarusian riot police is 1,500 people,” the report added.
On Aug. 15, Lukashenko spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Russia is ready to provide broad assistance to ensure the security of Belarus,” Lukashenko claimed in a meeting with defense officials that was broadcast.
Videos of the police wagons emerged amid anti-Lukashenko protests that have raged in Belarus for over a week.
Belarusians have taken to the streets en masse after state-controlled exit polls declared that Lukashenko won 80% of the vote in the presidential election on Aug. 9. An independent count showed opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to be the actual winner, provoking widespread anger in the authoritarian eastern European state.
Starting on Aug. 12, workers of state-run factories declared a nationwide strike, demanding that Lukashenko resign.
On Aug. 16, Belarus saw the largest public gathering in the country’s history when over 200,000 people came out to protest against electoral fraud and police brutality in Minsk.
“Lukashenko out!”
While the protests started out as a response to electoral fraud, they are now about more than just that.
Protesters in Belarus have faced unprecedented brutality from the local riot police and special forces of the Belarusian security agency, still called the KGB.
To suppress the protests, they fired rubber bullets, hurled flash grenades and used water cannons. Multiple amateur videos shared online show riot police ganging up on unarmed individual demonstrators and beating them with truncheons.
Two people were killed by the police, hundreds were injured and over 7,000 were detained.
Read More: Lukashenko falsifies election, declares war on Belarusians
Those detained were held for days without official charges and faced torture in captivity. Protesters released from jails say they were beaten, denied medical assistance and kept in horrendous conditions without the right to make a phone call.
Soon, the economic backbone of Lukashenko’s regime snapped.
Starting on Aug. 13, workers of the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) and the Belarus Automobile Plant (BelAz), two of the country’s largest vehicle producers, gathered outside their workplaces to protest police brutality and electoral fraud.
In an amateur video from the MAZ plant, people are seen shouting “elections, elections!”
A day earlier, workers of a sugar factory in Zhlobino, the Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ), the Vasily Kozlov Minsk Electrical Plantand many other technical plants across the country came out in protest and went on strike.
Workers of Minsk factories left their work stations and marched through downtown demanding a fair election and that the government free those detained by the police during the protests.
On Aug. 17, Lukashenko decided to visit one of the striking Minsk factories.
“You want to hold fair elections, but until you kill me, there will be no other elections,” Lukashenko said. Factory workers began to chant “leave!”
As the audience continued to heckle him, Lukashenko fired back: “I’ve said everything. You can now shout: ‘leave.’” Then he left.
On the same day, employees of state-owned channels Belarus 1 and ONT began an indefinite strike in front of the state-run Belarus Television and Radio Company, which operates the channels. They were joined by factory workers on strike.
As a result, ONT was forced to cancel multiple shows, while Belarus 1 aired a live video of an empty couch.
Opposition leader Tikhanovskaya, who was forced to flee the country on Aug. 11 after a seven-hour interrogation by the local KGB, said that she was ready to act as the national leader during the ongoing political crisis.
“(I’ll do it) so that we can release all political prisoners and prepare and organize new presidential elections as soon as possible,” she said in her Aug. 17 video address.
But Lukashenko has made it clear that he is not leaving his post.
“We will not hand over the country to anyone. We will hold on,” he said on Aug. 15 during a meeting with Belarus’ military command.
Russia’s help
After Belarusian riot police failed to suppress the protests, Lukashenko began boasting of Russian backing, saying that Russia would help him hold on to his job.
On Aug. 15 and 16, Lukashenko had two phone conversations with Putin. After his first call, Lukashenko said that he had initiated the talks “because the situation in Belarus contains elements of external interference and is threatening Russia as well.”
After the second call, Lukashenko said that Russia was ready to provide full assistance to his regime as part of the collective defense treaty of the Union State.
In 1997, Belarus and Russia agreed to form a Union State and further integrate, but the agreement has largely remained unfulfilled.
Lukashenko’s abrupt decision to seek Russian help contradicts his earlier statements on the protests. Before the vote, he accused Russia of meddling in the election.
On Aug. 14, Belarusian law enforcement released at least 32 Russian nationals believed to be members of the Kremlin-sponsored mercenary army Wagner Group from their custody back to Russia.
The militants were arrested near Minsk on July 29. The Belarusian authorities claimed that they were Wagner mercenaries who had arrived to destabilize the situation in the country during the presidential election campaign.
At least 28 members of the group were identified as former fighters of Russian-backed militant formations that had participated in Russia’s war against Ukraine in the Donbas in 2014-2015.
Ukraine asked Belarus to hand over the militants to stand trial for their alleged role in Russia’s war in the Donbas. UkrainianPresident Volodymyr Zelensky personally asked for them to be extradited to Ukraine during a phone conversation on Aug. 5.
Instead, Lukashenko went on the offensive, accusing NATO countries and Ukraine of sponsoring the protests and forcing Belarus to hold new elections.
“NATO forces are rattling with caterpillar treads… Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine demand that we hold new elections,” said Lukashenko.
“We don’t have to be Europe’s toilet!” he added.
Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have denied involvement in Belarus’ affairs. On Aug. 14, the foreign ministers of European Union states agreed to impose sanctions on the Belarusian leadership.
On Aug. 17, Ukraine recalled its ambassador to Belarus for consultations, citing “unfriendly gestures” by the Belarusian president.
