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2022 rail war in Belarus | |||
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Part of the 2022–2023 Belarusian and Russian partisan movement | |||
Date | 28 February 2022 – present[ dubious ] | ||
Caused by | Usage of Belarusian railways by Russia during Russian invasion of Ukraine | ||
Goals | Termination of the use of Belarusian railways by Russia | ||
Methods | Rail sabotage [1] | ||
Status | Ongoing | ||
Parties to the civil conflict | |||
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Casualties | |||
Arrested | 11 [7] |
Rail sabotage is one of the Belarusian forms of grassroots action opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [8] [9]
At the end of February 2022, the first reports appeared in the media about sabotage on Belarusian railways in order to disable manpower, signalling control equipment, and the transport of military materiel by rail for military operations on the territory of Ukraine. [8]
Signalling equipment was destroyed in three regions of Belarus, and railway lines were blocked. As a result of these operations, the work of several branches of the Belarusian railway was disrupted, particularly in the south of Belarus. [8] [9] There have been some 80 acts of sabotage on Belarusian railways as of 12 April, based on data from the Belarusian Interior Ministry. The most common form of damage is setting fire to the signalling equipment. This disrupts the lights on the railway system, forcing trains to slow to 15–20 km/h (9–12 mph). A married couple set fire to the logs of military equipment kept by the railways. Other acts of sabotage have involved the railway's workers themselves as well as hackers attacking the railway's computer system. The Deputy Interior Minister threatened to kill the partisans in a statement in early March. Shots were fired at people attempting to set fire to a signal box in late March. [10] In late April, the lower house of Parliament passed a law to apply the death penalty for sabotage. [11]
The opposition's actions assisted Ukrainian forces in defeating the Russian offensive which aimed to conquer Kyiv. [4]
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Partisan movements emerged in Belarus and Russia following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. These resistance movements act against the governments of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus and Vladimir Putin in Russia. Elements of the opposition also work to counter the interests of the armed forces of both countries, as well as against civilian supporters of these authorities, in order to put a stop to the war in Ukraine.
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