{"id":207153,"date":"2026-10-12T23:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/207153\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T23:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:39:35","slug":"extent-of-belarus-militarization-is-staggering-belpol-says","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/207153\/","title":{"rendered":"Extent of Belarus\u2019 militarization is staggering, BelPol says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Sputnik Belarus)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 12, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian investigative group BelPol has published a new report<\/a> sounding alarm at the \u201cstaggering\u201d scale of militarization of Belarus and describing it as a result of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s deliberate choice to \u201cplace state institutions and territory at the disposal of Russia\u2019s military machine\u201d rather than a natural response to external threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By early 2023, Belarus reportedly had 968 \u201cmilitary patriotic\u201d associations providing training to over 14,500 people, and 736 \u201cmilitary patriotic\u201d summer camps were organized that year in cooperation with military and security agencies, the report says. By 2024, the interior ministry had set up about 300 clubs \u201ceducating\u201d some 8,000 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors point out that Belarus\u2019 involvement in Russia\u2019s war can take many different forms, and its assessment should therefore go beyond tracking troop numbers and movements and cover political, societal, infrastructural, economic and legal transformations taking place in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regime continues integrating its security agencies into the Russian security apparatus \u201corganizationally and technically,\u201d with Belarus\u2019 command system gradually being absorbed by Russia\u2019s, the report says, adding that civil society capable of resisting \u201ccreeping Russian hybrid occupation\u201d has been forced out of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BelPol argues that deepening Russian\u2011Belarusian military integration, the deployment of Russian weapons in Belarusian and the expansion of infrastructure are preparing the ground for \u201cfuture pressure, provocations and new escalation\u201d and should be viewed as a major challenge to European security and not an isolated domestic crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report warns that if current trends persist, Belarus \u201cwill increasingly become a source of military and hybrid threats to Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The existence of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s regime benefits the Kremlin, and full responsibility for Belarus\u2019 ongoing absorption by Russia lies with \u0141uka\u0161enka, the authors conclude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine in which the Belarusian authorities sided with the Kremlin, allowing Russian troops to attack Ukraine from Belarus on multiple occasions, supplying weapons to Moscow and providing other kinds of assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s aide notes militarization, degradation of Belarus\u2019 educational system<\/h3>\n
August 10, Pozirk. Pavie\u0142 Ciera\u0161kovi\u010d, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s representative on education, warned of what he called the increasing militarization and degradation of Belarus\u2019 educational system \u201cCamouflaged guys armed with pistols and Kalashnikovs come to children [in child daycare …<\/div>\n \n