Former members of Ukrainian special unit Berkut are reportedly employed by the Belarusian police. They might participate in the persecution of opposition activists.
Several special forces soldiers of Mykolaiv-based Berkut, who were involved in dispersing Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv in 2014, found shelter in Belarus and started working for the country’s law-enforcement agencies, OSINT community InformNapalm reports.
Strong evidence has been collected against 28-year-old Nikolai Stogornyak.
Stogornyak and other Berkut riot policemen
On 13 March 2017, Stagornyak witnessed against Belarusian anarchist Vyachaslau Kasinerau in court. Three days later, he testified against Dzmitry Mitrasheuski, a participant in a ‘non-parasite’ march. As a result, both Kasinerau and Mitrasheuski were sentenced to 15 days in jail. At the trials Stogornyak introduced himself a member of the Belarusian riot police.
InformNapalm suggests that another two ex-fighters of Ukraine’s Berkut – Sergei Gavrilyak and Sergei Panasenko – are also working for law enforcement bodies of Belarus. But evidence against them are not so convincing so far.
The full story is here (in Russian).
belsat.eu