Community of Railway Workers of Belarus | |
Native Name: | Сообщество железнодорожников Беларуси |
Leader: | Sergei Voitsekhovich |
Country: | Belarus |
Allegiance: | Belarusian opposition |
Ideology: | Anti-Lukashenko Anti-war movement |
Crimes: | 2022 rail war in Belarus |
Status: | Active |
Opponents: | Government of Belarus |
Battles: | 2022 Belarusian and Russian partisan movement |
Website: | links.belzhd.live |
Community of Railway Workers of Belarus is a Belarusian opposition initiative of railway workers, recognized by the Belarusian authorities as an extremist formation.[1] [2]
Telegram channel "Live. The Community of Railway Workers of Belarus" was created in August 2020, a week after the presidential election and the start of mass demonstrations against Alexander Lukashenko.[3]
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the community has been carrying out railroad sabotage in order to undermine the logistics of the Russian army.[4] [5]
On 21 March 2022, the "Community of Railway Workers was recognized as an extremist formation by a decision taken by the KGB of Belarus on March 21 because "a group of citizens united through the Telegram chat "Community of Railway Workers of Belarus" carries out extremist activities."[6] [7] [8] [9]
As of 30 March 2022, at least 40 railway workers were reportedly detained for subscribing to the movement's telegram channel.[10]