‘Vitebsk Peoples Republic,’ a Donbass-Type Movement in Belarus, has Existed Since 2017

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 30 – For three years, a group in Belarus which seeks to form ‘a Vitebsk Peoples Republic’ on the model of the DNR and LNR in Ukraine’s Donbass and to join the Russian Federation has been operating largely in the shadows. In the current crisis, some of its leaders are now assuming a more public role.

            One of them, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Aleksey Polorotov of The Daily Storm that “we have regions bordering Russia which are only juridicaly part of Belarus. In fact, we are Russia. Our business is focused on Russia, and our people regularly go there” (dailystorm.ru/vlast/po-zavetam-donbassa-vitebskaya-narodnaya-respublika-prositsya-v-rossiyu).

            The group is not registered with the authorities but exists as a network, and its representative says that “there are more of us than you think and volunteers from Russia are ready to come out on our side.” He adds that there are more than 100 military units ready to fulfill tasks when they are told to do so.

            And he adds, contrasting his group with the protesters in Belarusian cities, “power and the realization of ideas are not achieved by marches; they must be taken by force.” That is why he says his group came into existence and what it intends to do when the moment is ripe. That moment has not yet come.

            “What is needed,” he continues, “is real dual power, not the situation that exists now. When a crowd of protesters will try to remove Lukashenka and introduce Tichanovskaya, that will be the most suitable moment.” The situation must constantly be monitored and “Russia must have a clear understanding of what Belarus is.” 

            If the people in the streets come to power, they will work against Russia whatever they now say. That may seem absurd – “how can Belarusians be against Russia?” – but it isn’t funny. That is how things will evolve, but “we, eastern Belarusians, are focused on Russia. There is our home.”

            To prevent things from going too far in a pro-Western position, he says, “the East will be ours, but we need all of Belarus. Splitting it apart has no sense. Personally, we are monitoring the pulse in our native Vitebsk. But our comrades in arms are also in Homel and Mohylev.” And they will follow.

            He admits that he and those in his group were inspired by “the Russian spring” in the Donbass in 2014 and not by groups like Russian National Unity and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration that affected people earlier. And he says he hopes that Moscow will be more responsive to his movement than it has been to the DNR and LNR.

            When the time comes, he says, “the executive committees, the interior ministry, the KGB, the investigative committee and so on will all be taken in our hands, and with the arrival of support from Russia we will form new organs of power.” Once that happens, we will organize a referendum to allow us to join the Russian Federation.

            Because of their own experiences, Polorotov says, Ukrainian experts are more concerned about this phenomenon than most Belarusians. Viktor Taran, a Kyiv political analyst, accuses Moscow of organizing the Vitebsk group to destabilize the situation in Belarus and allow Russia to intervene under cover of an invitation.

            “Doesn’t this remind you of something? The Vitebsk Peoples Republic is a child of the FSB, and Russia is preparing for a massive intervention. We are very carefully following events in Belarus and the Vitebsk Peoples Republic,” the Ukrainian analyst continues.

            One supporter of the VPR in Russia says that he fought in the Donbass and is ready to help his comrades in Belarus. That we have lost Ukraine is bad, but we must not hand over Belarus to our enemies … We are Russians and we don’t hand over our own.” The VPR activists are counting on that.