The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB RB; Russian : Комитет государственной безопасности Республики Беларусь, КГБ РБ; Belarusian : Камітэт дзяржаўнай бяспекі Рэспублікі Беларусь, КДБ РБ, romanized: Kamitet dziaržaŭnaj biaspieki Respubliki Belarus', KDB RB) is the national intelligence agency of Belarus. Along with its counterparts in Transnistria and South Ossetia, [1] it kept the unreformed name after declaring independence.
It is the successor to the KGB of the Byelorussian SSR, a branch of the Soviet KGB which operated in the Byelorussian republic. Felix Dzerzhinsky, who founded the first Soviet secret police, the Cheka, was born in present-day Belarus and remains an important figure in the state ideology of Belarus under president Alexander Lukashenko as well as a patron of the Belarusian KGB. It is governed by the law About State Security Bodies of the Republic of Belarus. [2]
The KGB has command over the Alpha Group as the main counter-terrorist unit, and they can be tasked to help the Militsiya and other law enforcement organizations in anti-crime operations.[ citation needed ]
On 1 March 1922, under the auspices Central Executive Committee of the BSSR, a State Political Directorate is formed. In July 1934, an NKVD republican affiliate was formed in the BSSR. 10 years later, during a reform of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Committee for State Security of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (KGB of the BSSR) was formed, which would become an independent agency in 1978. On 25 August 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Belarus passed the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic into constitutional law, effectively declaring independence from the USSR. In September 1991, the KGB of the BSSR was renamed to the KGB of the Republic of Belarus, becoming the new national security body of the state.
In October of that year, the Supreme Soviet mandated by law that the State Security Committee is subordinate to the Supreme Council of Belarus. In order to ensure the security of the new republic, the government provided regulations to the agency in January 1992. [3]
Major General Vadim Zaitsev, who was in charge of Lukashenko's personal security, was appointed its leader in July 2008. His tenure lasted until November 2012 and he was replaced by Valery Vakulchik. [4] The KGB is formally controlled by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. Human rights organizations, the United States, and the European Union have accused the KGB of secret police activities and human rights abuses.[ citation needed ]
The headquarters of the State Security Committee (Russian : Здание КГБ, Belarusian : Будынак КДБ) is located on Independence Avenue at the corner from Komsomolskaya Street. The building was built between 1945 and 1947 by architects Mikhail Parusnikov and Gennady Badanov. [5] The building was erected in the style of Stalinist Architecture and Neoclassicism. The left wing stretches across Independence Avenue to adjoin the neighboring House of the Minsk Mutual Agricultural Insurance Association.
Each region has regional divisions:
According to human rights organisations in the United States, and the European Union, the KGB and its senior leadership play a key role in human rights violations and political repressions in Belarus. The KGB has maintained both the name, the symbols and some of the repressive functions of its Soviet predecessor, the KGB of the Soviet Union.
Several dozens former Chairmen and senior officers of the KGB of Belarus have been included in the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United States, especially following the brutal crackdown of peaceful protests that followed the allegedly falsified presidential elections of 2006 and 2010. [6] Against most of them, the sanctions have been lifted in 2016 following an improvement of Belarus–European Union relations.
On 2 October 2020, the European Union added former chairman of the KGB Valery Vakulchik, as well as the Deputy Charimen, to its sanctions list. [7] On 6 November, Chairman Ivan Tertel was sanctioned by the EU as well. [8] These people are also subject to the restrictive measures by the United Kingdom, [9] Switzerland, [10] and Canada. [11]
The KGB Alpha Group was placed under US Treasury Department sanctions for their role in suppressing the 2020-21 protests. [12]
On 21 June 2021, the U.S. Treasury has added the KGB of Belarus and its Chairman Ivan Tertel to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List [13] with the following motivation:
The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian KGB) has continually pressured and targeted the opposition in the aftermath of the fraudulent 2020 election. The Belarusian KGB has detained, intimidated, and otherwise pressured the opposition, to include Pratasevich. In November 2020, the Belarusian KGB added Pratasevich and another opposition journalist to its list of terrorists. [14]
In 2022, the KGB and Tertel were included in the sanctions lists of the European Union, the United States, Switzerland and Japan, while Ukraine blacklisted only Tertel. [15] [16]
In 2011, commanders of the KGB in the regions of Belarus were accused by the EU of being responsible for political repressions in their regions: [18]
A cooperation deal between the State Security Service of Georgia and the KGB was signed in 2016 [19] and came into force in 2021. [20] At the time it came into force, their relationship was criticized over the KGB's role in suppressing the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests. [21]
On 1 December 2021, US-based Meta announced that 41 fake accounts on Facebook and 4 on Instagram belonging to Belarusian KGB were removed. The accounts criticised the actions of Poland during Belarus–European Union border crisis in English, Polish and Kurdish, while pretending to be journalists and activists. [22]
On 10 April 2022, Meta reported that Internet accounts linked to KGB on the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine tried to spread fake news about the surrender of Ukrainian army and flight of Ukrainian authorities. [23]
Myechyslaw Ivanavich Hryb is a Belarusian politician who was the eleventh Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus from 28 January 1994 to 10 January 1996. In his capacity as the head of state, Hryb adopted the first Constitution of Belarus. He succeeded Stanislav Shushkevich and was head of state from 28 January to 20 July 1994 until Alexander Lukashenko replaced him in the new office called President of Belarus, which became the new head of state office. He continued as a parliamentary speaker. Hryb is now a politician in the opposition and a member of the Social-Democratic Party.
The National State TV and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus, known as Belteleradiocompany or simply Belteleradio, is the state television and radio broadcasting service in Belarus.
Belarus State Economic University is a university in Minsk, Belarus. It specializes in Finance and Economics. It was founded in 1933 as Belarusian Institute for National Economy. It was renamed Belarus State Economic University (BSEU) in January 1992. In 1997, the university was officially given the status of a leading educational institution in preparing specialists in the field of economics.
Viktor Vladimirovich Sheiman is a Belarusian politician.
Lieutenant-General Yuri Viktorovich Zhadobin was the Chairman of the KGB of the Republic of Belarus from 2007 to 2008 and the Minister of Defence of Belarus from 4 December 2009 to 27 November 2014. He replaced Leonid Maltsev and was succeeded by Andrei Ravkov. Zhadobin was subject to international sanctions as a person responsible for political repressions and human rights violations in Belarus.
Dzmitry Zhuk is a Belarusian journalist and media manager. He is the former head of the press service of president Alexander Lukashenko. Since February 2018 Main Editor of the state-owned newspaper holding Sovetskaya Belorussiya. He was accused of organizing propagandist support to political repressions and placed on the EU sanctions list between 2012 and 2016 when he was Director General of the state-owned news agency BelTA. Son of the Belarusian writer Ales Zhuk
The Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus is a state administration body of Belarus that supervises the implementation of the resolutions of the President.
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The Minsk City Police Department officially known as the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee is the main municipal police force in the Belarusian capital of Minsk with responsibilities that include law enforcement and investigation in the city.
The Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is an Internal Troops - paramilitary law enforcement force in the Republic of Belarus under the national Ministry of Internal Affairs. All personnel are trained in the Internal Troops Faculty of the Military Academy of Belarus.
The Belarusian Alpha Group is a special unit of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus, tasked to handle counter-terrorism operations throughout Belarus when regular Belarusian law enforcement units are underequipped to handle the task. It also assists law enforcement units in anti-crime operations.
Okrestina Detention Centre, Akrestsina Detention Centre, officially, the Criminal Detention Centre of the Minsk Executive Committee’s Main Internal Affairs Directorate, is a pre-trial detention centre in Minsk, Belarus. The prison is known as a detention centre for activists of the Belarusian opposition arrested during mass protests against the government of president Alexander Lukashenko. On 21 June 2021, the U.S. Treasury has added Okrestina Detention Centre to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
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General Vadim Zaitsev is a Ukrainian-born former head of the KGB of Belarus under president Alexander Lukashenka.
Mikalai Mikalayevič Karpiankou is a state security official of the government of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. He is a Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus and the incumbent Commander of Internal Troops of Belarus.
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The Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the MVD of the Republic of Belarus, is a state security service of Belarus. It has been accused of numerous acts of political repression, violence and torture of political opponents of Alexander Lukashenko's regime.
Ivan Stanislavovich Tertel is a Belarusian politician. He is the current Chairman of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus.