Community of Railway Workers of Belarus | |
---|---|
Сообщество железнодорожников Беларуси | |
Leader | Sergei Voitsekhovich[1] |
Foundation | August 2020 |
Country | Belarus |
Allegiance | Belarusian opposition |
Ideology | Anti-Lukashenko Anti-war movement |
Major actions | 2022 rail war in Belarus |
Status | Active |
Opponents | Government of Belarus |
Battles and wars | 2022 Belarusian and Russian partisan movement |
Website | links.belzhd.live |
Community of Railway Workers of Belarus (Russian: Сообщество железнодорожников Беларуси, romanized: Soobshchestvo zheleznodorozhnikov Belarusi) is a Belarusian opposition initiative of railway workers, recognized by the Belarusian authorities as an extremist formation.[2][3]
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.[4]
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][1][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]