Claim: Some generals opposed the participation of Belarus in the war

Mendel

Mendel

Senior Member.

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1500197649307348994

Article:
According to Putin's plan, Belarus' troops had to enter Ukraine a week ago. But something went wrong. Some officers resigned, some fled Belarus and contacted us. Conscripts are massively fleeing. Apparently, some generals opposed the participation of Belarus in the war.

Article:
Franak Viačorka is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, a journalist, and senior advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of democratic Belarus.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya ran as opposition candidate to Lukashenko in the last election in Belarus.

I could not find any evidence or confirmation for this claim so far, is it true?
 
After hearing about the Russian general taken out by a sniper perhaps they decided to stay home? I would not want anything to do with this mess. I feel so bad for the conscripted Russians who had no idea what they were getting into along with anyone else with relatives or loved ones in any of those countries. All so senseless because of one man's ideas about some historical artifact. All I can hope for is that we all get through this safely and that there will be a better world to come out of this.
 
This story is getting bigger, allegedly the Chief of Staff has resigned over being unable to field contingents.

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/expatua/status/1500374879908114438


Most major news outlets appear to not carry this yet, presumably for lack of confirmation.
Article:
Oleksiy Arestovych, Advisor to the Head of the [Ukranian] President's Office, has said that he was checking information about the alleged resignation of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus Viktor Gulevich.

"I'm checking this information," Arestovych said on Sunday during the telethon, which is broadcast by the Rada TV channel, answering the presenter's question.

Earlier, a number of media outlets published a scan of Gulevich's resignation letter dated March 4 addressed to Minister of Defense of Belarus Viktor Khrenin, in which he reports that the personnel of military units massively refuse to take part in hostilities and the Armed Forces of Belarus cannot complete a single battalion group. "Conducting explanatory work with the commanders of military units did not produce results. I have the courage to assume that replacing the commanders of these military units, who could not organize the formation of groups on the ground, will not give us the desired result," the statement says.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus refuted this information, stating that "Gulevich cannot ask the Minister of Defense of Belarus to resign, since only the one who appointed him – the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, can resign." They also said that the staffing of formations and military units of Belarus is 100%, "and they are already performing tasks, only on their territory."

Amateur translation:
Article:
Dear Viktor Gennadievich!

in pursuance of your order regarding the formation of shock battalion groups, I have to report the following: due to the massive refusal to take part in the hostilities of the personnel of the military units that were supposed to be involved in staffing the above battalion groups, the Armed Forces of Belarus are not able to staff a single battalion group.

Conducting explanatory work with the commanders of military units did not produce results. I have the courage to assume that the replacement of the commanders of these military units, who were unable to organize the formation of groups on the ground, will not give us the result we need.

In view of the above, I ask for your decision regarding the acceptance of my resignation.

Chief of the General Staff - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus
Major General Gulevich V.V.
 

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If they are only sticking to their territory then I'm good with that. As long as they aren't lobbing artillery or flying missions over Ukraine. If they are only protecting their own country and not supporting Russia I'm ok with that. The training exercises they did with Russia may even be a good thing if they wasted a lot of ammo. I'm really trying to be an optimist here, but I'm also ready for anything...

If true, I'm glad someone's over there are seeing some sense and not wanting to go to war with their neighbors! I hope so. I'm really hoping. They are not a big country compared to Russia or Ukraine population wise so it would not be a good idea anyways IMO.
 
Mendel said:
Franak Viačorka
Click to expand...
A free Israeli newspaper picked up the story on Monday.
Article:
Franak Viacorka, a senior adviser to exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, told Israel Hayom they had information indicating Putin's plan had been for the Belarusian military to join in the war effort in the early days of the invasion. The plan was foiled when several military officers resigned and fled the country. Upon fleeing Belarus, those senior officials contacted the opposition in exile.

"We know there is a high degree of demoralization among officers in the military," Viacorka said from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. "In addition, there is a great deal of demoralization among conscripted soldiers, who are fleeing the country's borders en masse to any destination possible, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and the Baltic states."

He said, "In recent days, we have seen growing pressure from commanders of military units not to intervene in the fighting in Ukraine. There are officers who took sick leave, others who have asked to end their contracts with the military, even at the price of reimbursing all the expenses from their military service. We're talking about thousands of dollars."

According to Viacorka, "The biggest problem for them is that they have no practical way of leaving Belarus. In the past, they could have left for Georgia, but now all the flights there from Belarus have been canceled for the next six months. There are no flights to Western Europe, and it's very difficult to get flights to Istanbul. So the only way to defect is to cross the border with neighboring countries illegally. Many officers are still unwilling to risk this step."

But it's still only that single source.
 
Article:
March 1, 2022 "We have no aggressive plans regarding neighboring countries. Our prime task is the protection of the border and territorial integrity," the BelTA news agency quotes Gulevich as saying.

He stressed that there were no Belarusian troops in Ukraine. The Belarusian army goes ahead with performing its routine duties on the national territory.



seems odd Belarus would have been planning on sending troops into Ukraine, when they seem uncomfortable with their ability to protect their own borders from NATO.
Feb 21, 2022
Article:
The withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarus amid heightened tensions with Ukraine would primarily depend on NATO pulling back its own forces from the region, the head of the Belarusian army said on Monday, according to Reuters.

"The Russian Armed Forces' units will return to their permanent bases only when an objective need for that arises and when we decide," Viktor Gulevich said.

"In no small measure this will also depend on our Western counterparts. The forces and equipment deployed in the eastern European region, including near Belarus ... are one of the factors that influence the development of the situation," he added.
...
Russia deployed its military force to Belarus on Feb. 10 as part of a broader buildup of its troops. While the military exercises were meant to end Sunday, Russia and Belarus announced that they would extend the drills due to an "increase in military activity."




November 2021
Article:
MINSK, November 23. /TASS/. Belarus' Defense Ministry reported NATO's suspension of cooperation with the republic at the initiative of the North Atlantic Alliance.

"In just the last few days, another unfriendly move was made by European countries. NATO has severed another channel of dialogue and suspended its practical cooperation with the Republic of Belarus," the statement by Chief of the General Staff of Belarus' Armed Forces, First Deputy Defense Minister, Major-General Viktor Gulevich reported on Tuesday.

He stated that currently "all international agreements over security and transparency of military actions" are being violated, the provisions of the Vienna Document on confidence and security-building has been trampled upon." "We proposed the Polish side to hold a bilateral meeting with arms control specialists, and invite our representatives to monitor military activities, as required by bilateral regional agreements," Gulevich said. "But our proposals which would help to diffuse tension, unfortunately, are not supported by the Polish side," he concluded.




*note: this info is only presented as relating to the OP (Opening Post claim) topic.
 
Here's a new weird piece of news supporting the narrative that Russia would like Belarus to actively join the war, but fails to get results. As before, the sole source is Ukraine, so maybe it's bunk?
Article:
1. Russian aircraft likely conducted an attempted false-flag attack on Belarusian territory on March 11. The Kremlin is likely pressuring Belarus to enter the war in Ukraine to support Russian forces. Belarusian President Lukashenko is likely attempting to delay or prevent his entry into the war to avoid costly Western sanctions and Belarusian combat losses. Ukrainian authorities reported at 2:30 pm local time on March 11 that two Russian aircraft had entered Ukrainian airspace before returning to Belarus and launching an airstrike against the Belarusian town of Kopani.[3] Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov additionally stated on March 11 that Ukraine is "fully confident" that Russian aviation is preparing to strike several Belarusian settlements, including Kopani, from Ukrainian airspace to force Belarusian leadership to join Russia's war in Ukraine.[4] Russian forces have not conducted any additional false-flag attacks as of this publication. The Belarusian Ministry of Defense denied that the strikes occurred.
 
I am having trouble to find this reported on reliable mainstream Western news outlets, so I'm not certain how true it is:
Article:
On behalf of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, First Deputy Defence Minister Major General Viktor Gulevich, it is reported that five battalion tactical groups (BTGs) are currently stationed on the southern border of Belarus alongside the border guards "in order to prevent nationalist armed groups from entering the Republic of Belarus from the territory of Ukraine, as well as to prevent the illegal delivery of weapons, ammunition and explosives."

The tactical groups on the border with Ukraine are said to carry out reconnaissance missions, patrol the border, ensure the security of strategic objects, and provide road defence.

According to the Chief of the General Staff of Belarus: "We are planning to replace them [the servicemen currently on the border] with five BTGs in the near future. Units that have completed their tasks to protect the state border will return to their permanent locations…

The transfer of troops is in no way related to the Belarusian military preparing for, or moreover, participating in, the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine. I can assure the relatives and friends of our servicemen that our Armed Forces are carrying out tasks to ensure the military security of Belarus only on its own territory."

Gulevich seems to still be working, despite his alleged resignation I posted a few days ago.
 
The unconfirmed Ukrainian claims keep coming.
External Quote:
Russian commanders are being appointed in the [Belarussian] army to quell the resistance of [Belarussian] soldiers against going to war against [Ukraine]. In some Brest units, riots are taking place and some MIA officers have temporarily emigrated with families to avoid going to war.
Given that another widespread narrative alleges a shortage of qualified Russian troops, I wonder where these "commanders" would come from. And these "MIA officers" would be deserters presumably facing jail, and fleeing the country.



Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1502806708044849156
 
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Something that should be kept in mind with Belarus is they have their own resistance going on for its own purposes. It's not uncommon to see "defections" from the government. Any sort of support for an unwanted war could help amplify those views and depending on the context persuade someone into acting if they haven't.
There's actually even an organization called Bypol which is almost entirely of former police & state security officers, and former members of the armed services.

Russia absolutely does support Belaussian actors too, which more than likely also includes the possibility to embed certain workers. These positions would be retained by rather specific individuals who would not necessarily have been involved on the ground in Ukraine anyways. There's been references of support to Belarus' parts 45523 and 89147 at least, alongside claims that GRU parts may have assisted in the GHOSTWRITER campaign attributed to Belarus.
ByPol has reported on the topic of these connections before somewhat;
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFQFZ-YJ6qE
they mention the training of a few people at Russian military institutions.
There's also been a lot of reporting about other people who've gone on to have educations inside Russia and returned, in some cases with small keys that could point to certain relationships.
 
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