The article reports on the increasing number of Belarusians being added to Russia’s wanted list, with 100 new entries per month, including members of the exiled opposition, journalists, and human rights activists. The largest increase came in December 2024, with almost 300 new entries.
According to the article, currently, there are 4,700 Belarusians on the Russian wanted list, including:
* Members of the exiled opposition
* Belarusian volunteers fighting for Ukraine
* Journalists
* Human rights activists
Belarus and Russia are part of the Interstate Wanted Persons Treaty of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a Russia-led political alliance of former post-Soviet countries. In 2022, Russia extradited 16 Belarusians accused of “extremism”, a charge widely used against political opponents of the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
The article also reports that International police organization Interpol has stopped executing politically motivated searches requested by Belarus. However, Belarusians in Russia and most CIS countries can be subject to extradition.
The updated list was published on April 9 on the KGB’s Telegram channel, including a former EU diplomatic staffer in Belarus, Mikalai Khilo, who was sentenced to a four-year prison term for “incitement of hatred and calls for actions harming Belarus’s national security”.
The EU’s External Action Service condemned the decision and reiterated calls for Khilo’s release. The Viasna Human Rights Center has also designated Khilo as a political prisoner.
Created in 2011 to fulfill Belarus’s international obligations in combating terrorism, the list of terrorists is now a tool to harass the regime’s political opponents in the aftermath of rigged 2020 presidential elections and resulting mass anti-government protests.
The article notes that nearly 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. Several demonstrative rounds of pardons last year reportedly saw 258 of them set free, but the pardons stalled soon after the January presidential elections, and regime repression continues.
According to Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya, 15-20 politically motivated detentions are reported daily in Belarus.
