Valery Vilyamovich Tsepkalo or Valery Vilyamavich Tsapkala is a Belarusian politician and entrepreneur. After graduating from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations with a doctoral degree in international law and serving in the embassy of the Soviet Union in Finland, Tsepkalo joined the staff of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He later became an advisor on foreign political and economic relations to the Chairman of the Belarusian Parliament, Stanislav Shushkevich, and then a senior advisor to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Veyshnoria is a fictional state created for Zapad 2017, a joint Russo-Belarusian military training exercise. It neighbours Belarus and is an enemy of the Union State. Veyshnoria occupies most of Grodno Region and the northwestern parts of the Minsk and Vitebsk regions.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belarus, when the first case of COVID-19 in the country was registered in Minsk on 28 February 2020. As of 29 January 2023, a total of 19,047,714 vaccine doses have been administered.
Grodno Azot is an open joint-stock company, Belarusian state-run producer of nitrogen compounds and fertilizers located in Grodno, Belarus.
Revolutionary Action is the oldest Belarusian anarchist organization. It seeks to spread anarchist ideas, organize a movement of direct action, and foment a social revolution in Belarus. The group promotes social anarchism, anarcho-communism, and illegalism, and operates in secret due to laws that criminalize their activities.
A constitutional referendum was held in Belarus on 27 February 2022. The referendum was ordered by President Alexander Lukashenko in January 2022. According to political analysts, changes to the Belarusian constitution were intended to solidify the power of Lukashenko's regime after the mass protests in 2020 and 2021, which challenged his rule and was brutally suppressed by police. More than 35,000 people were arrested, 1,070 of whom are acknowledged political prisoners. The changes to the Constitution allow Lukashenko to remain in office until 2035 and empower the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, an extra-parliamentary body dominated by government supporters. The changes also renounced Belarus's nuclear-free zone status, allowing Belarus to host nuclear weapons for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union; the lead-up to the referendum occurred as Russia amassed its troops in both Russia and Belarus in the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the election itself was held several days after Russia began its military offensive into Ukraine.
Aliaksandr Shakutsin is a Belarusian businessman, allegedly close to Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Media widely characterize Shakutsin as an oligarch. On 17 December 2020, the Council of the European Union imposed sanctions on him.
Belarus–NATO relations refers to relations between the Republic of Belarus and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Belarus Solidarity Foundation BYSOL is a non-profit organization established on August 14, 2020, as a response to violence that happened in Belarus after the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. BYSOL is aimed at raising funds to provide financial aid to victims of repression in Belarus.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has supported its eastern neighbour in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before the start of the offensive, Belarus allowed the Russian Armed Forces to perform weeks-long military drills on its territory; however, the Russian troops did not exit the country after they were supposed to finish. Belarus allowed Russia to stage part of the invasion from its territory, giving Russia the shortest possible land route to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. However, these forces withdrew within two months, thus ceasing land-based military operations originating from Belarus and resulting in the recapture of the Ukrainian side of the border region by Ukraine. Despite this, the situation along the border remains tense, with Ukraine closing the border checkpoints leading into Belarus, bar special cases.
"And now I will show you, where they were preparing the attack on Belarus from" is a phrase widely spread on Runet said by Alexander Lukashenko, which attempts to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine in regards to Belarus. The phrase subsequently became very popular in many countries of the former Soviet Union and started being used as a meme in various videos from mid-March 2022.
Alexey Valeryevich Dzermant is a Belarusian philosopher, journalist and political observer, characterized in non-governmental media as a pro-government political analyst. Until the early 2010s, he was an activist of the neo-pagan movement; currently he is an Orthodox Christian and staunch supporter of Eurasianism.
The Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists is a militant anarcho-communist organization in Eastern Europe, part of the Belarusian and Russian partisan movement. It aims for social revolution and a libertarian socialist society. Since the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has sabotaged railway infrastructure in Russia and Belarus, as well as attacking Russian military commissariats and telecommunications. According to The Insider, the group has become "the most active 'subversive' force" in Russia since the war began.
A series of Molotov cocktail arson attacks and shootings took place in Russian military commissariat registration and enlistment offices following the start of the country's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Other governmental buildings were also attacked in multiple regions of Russia. Part of the Russian partisan and anti-war movements, the attacks were spurred by several factors, including the invasion of Ukraine, the deployment of Russian conscripts to the front line, the start of spring conscription, and rumors about possible mobilization in the country, which were later found to be true.
Pro-democratic and pro-Ukrainian partisan movements have emerged in Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. These resistance movements act against the authoritarian government of Vladimir Putin in Russia, as well as against civilian supporters of these authorities and the armed forces, with the aim of stopping the war.
Stop the Wagons is a Russian anti-war movement that engaged in sabotaging Russian railways in various ways to prevent the transport of equipment, fuel, ammunition and other supplies to the war in Ukraine.
The Association of Security Forces of Belarus, also known as BYPOL, is a Belarusian organization that was created by former employees of law enforcement agencies to counter the Belarusian authorities. The association has channels on YouTube and Telegram, on which it publishes various videos related to the security forces, and also doxes law enforcement officers.
Community of Railway Workers of Belarus is a Belarusian opposition initiative of railway workers, recognized by the Belarusian authorities as an extremist formation.
The rail war began in different regions of Russia in the spring of 2022 after a similar rail war in Belarus.
Busły liaciać is a Belarusian opposition resistance group. It was founded on 13 November, 2020, to fight against the government of Alexander Lukashenko. The group is part of the "Supraciŭ" association, alongside the Cyber Partisans.
