Dictator Makes More Personnel Replacements

Lukashenka has appointed a new Vice-PM and Head of the Borderline Committee.

Health Care Minister Vasil Zharko has been appointed as Vice Prime Minister on Social Issues. Previously this position was occupied by Natallia Kachanava, who was promoted to the Head of Lukashenka’s Administration.

Vasil Zharko is 60 years old, he comes from Drahichyn district. He was a Health Care Minister since May 2006, nn.by reports.

Mr.Zharko got the first special education in a medical school in Yuratsishki, Iuie district. Then he served in the Army in Orenburg (Russia), was a military paramedic. Then he entered the Minsk Medical Institute at the second attempt. In the institute, he was successful not only academically, but also in the Komsomol.

Upon graduation he worked at the Children's Hospital of Brest, where future Minister of Health Lyudmila Pastayalka also worked at that time.

Later on, Vasil Zharko worked at various positions in Brest and Drahichyn. In 2003 he moved to Minsk, becoming director of the sanatorium "Krynica". He also served as the head of the Belarusian Red Cross.

The new Health Care Minister has not been appointed yet.

Lukashenka has also appointed a new head of the State Borderline Committee today.

General-Major Anatol Lappo replaced the General-Major Leanid Maltsau, who was dismissed from this position the other day, BelTA reports.

Anatol Piatrovich Lappo was born on May 24, 1963 in the village of Kulakouka in Bialynichy district, Mahiliou region. In 1986 he graduated the Golitsino Frontier Higher Military-Political School of the KGB named after Voroshilov, in 2001 – the Academy of Federal Borderline Service of the Russian Federation. In 1981-1992 he served in the Krasnoznamennyi Transcaucasian border district of the KGB USSR at various positions: from a conscript private, a deputy head of the frontier outpost, a head of the frontier outpost to a deputy commander – head of the Border Command Post.

In 1992 - 2008 he served in the Smarhon frontier squad at various positions, and headed this squad in 2004. In 2008, he was appointed as a deputy head of the chief operative administration of the State Borderline Committee of the Republic of Belarus, then – as a deputy head of the State Borderline Committee, a head of the chief administration for material and technical supply. Since 2014 he worked as a deputy head of the State Borderline Committee of the Republic of Belarus.

Anatol Lappo is a General-Major. He was awarded a number of state awards of the USSR and the Republic of Belarus, including the medal "For Service in Battle", the medal "For Faultless Service" of I and II degree, and the III degree order "For Service to the Motherland". In December 2016 he was appointed a head of the State Borderline Committee.