Members of the European Parliament have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, calling out Belarus for serving an “accomplice” role in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The arrest warrant should be issued in part because Lukashenko, who has been allowing Russian forces to use Belarus as a staging ground for attacks in Ukraine, has played a part in Russia’s forcible deportation of Ukrainian children, the members of parliament, who serve as the European Union’s law-making body, said in a report released Tuesday.
The call comes after news that more than 2,100 Ukrainian children have been kidnapped from Russian-occupied cities in Ukraine and taken to Belarus, according to an opposition figure who shared information with the ICC in recent weeks.
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Lukashenko has acknowledged the presence of Ukrainian children in Belarus, but has claimed their stay there is a way to recover from the trauma from war. “They actually don't want to leave,” he has said.
“Belarus is responsible for damage caused to and crimes committed in Ukraine,” a press release on the decision states, urging member states and EU entities to “take all necessary steps at international level to enable the criminal prosecution of those Belarusian political and military leaders responsible for crimes against humanity and genocide.”
Belarus, which has entered into a so-called “union state” with Russia, has been helping Russia wage war in Ukraine since the early days of the invasion, offering up territory for a staging ground for attacks into Ukraine from the north. He has renewed that pledge of support in recent months, as Belarusian and Russian troops conduct joint trainings inside Belarus and Minsk allows Russia to transfer tactical nuclear weapons inside Belarusian territory.
Earlier this month, Lukashenko announced he had played a part in negotiating an end to the staged Wagner mutiny in Russia in what Belarusian opposition figures and Russia watchers characterized as a major favor to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a time of crisis. Since then, thousands of Wagner mercenaries have been flooding into Belarus as a part of the negotiated end to the revolt, according to the Belarusian Hajun project.
In their report, the European Parliament’s MEPs call out Belarus for hosting the nuclear weapons, which Russia controls, and note that Wagner Group’s infiltration into Belarus “creates new potential security risks for Ukraine as well as for Belarus’ EU neighbours and the EU as a whole” as well.
The move has introduced political instability into Lukashenko’s own rule in Belarus, too, since many Belarusians are not keen on welcoming Yevgeniy Prigozhin and Wagner mercenaries into their country, a U.S. ambassador told The Daily Beast.
The political opposition in Belarus, led by exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has been calling Russia’s use of Belarus for the war in Ukraine a hybrid or de-facto occupation for months, as previously reported by The Daily Beast. The democratic opposition expressed support for the MEPs report Tuesday.
“I am profoundly grateful for the MEPs' support in condemning the ongoing human rights violations in Belarus,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
The ICC has already issued arrest warrants for Putin and the Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their role in illegally transfering Ukrainian children out of Ukraine during the war.
Just like with Russia, European countries must seek to hold Lukashenko accountable for his role in the war in Ukraine and for human rights abuses, said Petras Austrevicius, a Lithuanian politician and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence.
“The Lukashenka regime has engaged in unprecedented internal repression against the Belarusian people and has become an accomplice in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Austrevicius said in a statement. “The EU’s strategy towards Belarus must therefore bear in mind the crimes of the Lukashenka regime, seek accountability, and, in cooperation with the Belarusian democratic forces, find the necessary solutions and take decisive action to fulfil the European aspirations of the Belarusian people for freedom and independence.”
