How Belarus are being blown up

There are recently  strange terrorist attacks in Belarus.

That small bang of a petard in a Gomel shop, an accident, when two drunken residents of Kobrin found and dismantled a grenade, or an attempt, suspicious by its stupidity, to blow up a police station in Zhlobin. Today, Lukashenka's television reported about an attempt to shoot at a bus in Minsk. And the State Security Committee is engaged in investigation of all these cases: it quickly initiates criminal cases and starts searching for the perpetrators.

Here are the news of recent months:

In April the KGB presented a video of the explosion on April 19 in one of the Gomel shops. It was reported that a homemade explosive device blew up at a grocery store near the train station. "The bomb was hidden in the cavity near the cash register. Individual elements of an explosive device, as the experts found out, are of foreign origin. The seller has received minor injuries" - reported the Regional Directorate of the KGB.

It is seen, however, on the video that there was no explosion. "Handmade explosive device", looked like a petard, which caused only a weak bang.

Nevertheless, the Regional Directorate of the KGB in the Gomel region opened a criminal investigation on the basis of the threat of an terroristic act. It is announced about the development of the version about a "clash" between organizers of channels of illegal migration from the number of foreigners, arriving under the guise of education in universities of Gomel.

Again, in April in Kobrin (Brest region) two people died in a grenade explosion: a man, born in 1957, and his son, born in 1979.

The official media, referring to the KGB, immediately started to report fearful details. According to their assurances, one of the victims (the father) was prior convicted under the article 186 "The threat of murder, causing grievous bodily harm or destruction of property" of the Criminal Code of Belarus. His son for a long time was at the North Caucasus region of Russia and returned home on the eve of the explosion.

Again, a criminal case has been initiated under the article "Terrorism". "Various versions are being checked, including the fact that the family could be implicated in the organization of illegal weapons sales, perhaps in the interests of specific customers among illegal migrants", - reported KGB.

Kobrin is my home town, and residents told me that one of the victims, the father, who, supposedly, was accused in "death threats", in fact was a usual alcoholic, who once started a drunken fight. And his son- was trying to earn some money throughout Russia because of its lack. That means he was a usual guest-worker, not a supplier of weapons from the North Caucasus region. Where they found a grenade - noone can still understand. But given that earlier there was a military base in the Kobrin, with its dissolution something could easily "get lost". Anyway, after the flight of the Swedish aircraft over the territory of Belarus under the nose of the Air Defense System the level of order in the army is obvious.

Another incident happened in In May in Zhlobin, which confirmed by its absurdity and theatricality, that secret services was involved in it.

A man in a mask with an inscription in Arabic and with a five-kilogram bomb in TNT equivalent tried to blow up the local police department. The KGB version is, again, terribly expectable: "The detainee was associated with an organization that illegally forwarded citizens of Afghanistan to Europe".

A situation where people from Afghanistan organize a terrorist attack in Belarus, in particular - in Zhlobin, looks at least strange. Earlier, the official Minsk has repeatedly threatened to Brussels that it would weaken the control of illegal immigration on its borders. There is a parallel: The Zhlobin terrorist is, supposedly, connected with an organization that transports the Afghans to Europe. The "explosion" in Gomel shop and the accident in Kobrin are also seen as clashes of these groups.

Now let us remember: how much money asks the KGB for the "war on terror"?

It was in May, after all these strange attacks, when the website of the Ministry of Economy published a list of projects that state agencies represent to the donors in the framework of the International Technical Cooperation for 2012-2016 years.

Among the projects there are also offers from the Committee for State Security. Security officers ask to finance the "purchase and delivery of technical means and equipment to ensure activities in the fight against terrorism, organizing and conducting counterterrorism and other operations, conducting special operations and investigations in the state to be able to respond to acts of terrorism". For this project the KGB asks 6 million dollars.

The second KGB project is aimed at the "improvement of measures to counter nuclear and radiological terrorism on the territory of Belarus". This project is designed for 3.5 million dollars.

But the explosions can be arranged by special services not only for 9.5 million dollars.

The current situation causes a feeling of deja vu.

In May 1997, under attack of unknown persons appeared the Russian Embassy in Minsk and the site of the pipeline "Yamal-Western Europe", which was blown up not far from Uzda. In August 1997 a bomb exploded in the court of the Savetsky district of Minsk. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Responsibility for the attacks was taken by some Belarusian Liberation Army (BOA). Although Belarus never had any BOA.

But it was on the eve of the referendum of 1996, from which, in fact, starts the Belarusian dictatorship. The West rejected Lukashenka's legitimacy and increased pressure, and there were strong opposition protests within the country. "Terrorist acts" in Minsk then tried to to be explained as actions of the "extremist opposition", in particular - the "Young Front" - the most influential and numerous youth movement of that time.

After that the question of terrorism was arising regularly, when it was needed to the authorities. Everyone remembers the press conference of the Chairman of the KGB Stjepan Sukharenka before the presidential elections in 2006, where he amused journalists and the world with his assurances that the opposition was going to poison the population of Minsk by throwing a rat into the local water conduit. But if these charges were ridiculous, then the threats on the eve of the protest against the falsification of elections, to accuse anyone, who will dare to come to the Square, in "terrorism" (which means the death penalty) were quite serious.

After the explosions on July 3, 2008, and in the Minsk Metro on April 2011 the KGB was also saying about the possible involvement of the opposition.

In 2008 some activists had to go through prison. In 2011 in prison were almost all active oppositionists, representing a threat for the regime. And therefore there was no acute need for another "witch hunt". A fortiori, when the explosion in Minsk subway reached its goal: people, who decided to protest on the streets after the collapse of the ruble, the sharp fall of salaries, and the rise of prices, hid away in the kitchens with the thought "if there only was no war".

Today, when the Lukashenka’s regime is in the international isolation and on the verge of another major economic collapse, "terror attacks" became necessary again. This will allow the authorities to start new repressions against the opposition under the guise of the need to fight against "terrorism" and "extremism". Especially, when one still can receive millions from the West to do it.  

Natallia Radzina, the editor of charter97.org