Russia-allied Belarus added terrorism to its crimes punishable by death on Friday, with President Alexander Lukashenko signing the change into law nearly two weeks after it was adopted by the lower house of Parliament.
The measure was introduced after saboteurs tried to damage parts of a railway network in April. Belarus, the only European country to actively use execution as a form of criminal punishment, has denied any involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but has admitted its territory was used as a staging ground.
Opposition media outlets reported the railway sabotage was used to slow the movement of Russian troops.
“Aggressive and highly politicized foreign actors make it their mission to destabilize the situation in the Republic of Belarus,” read the excerpt from the law, published on a Belarus government website.
Numerous unverified reports in the early stages of the invasion indicated the presence of “railroad guerillas” who staged multiple attacks to damage the railroad network between Ukraine and Russia. Due to the interconnectivity of the Soviet Union and its numerous republics, their shared past gave Russian troops the ability to move troops into Ukraine from Belarus quickly.
While the exact number of attacks was unknown, they were enough to significantly disrupt railway traffic between Ukraine and Belarus.
Soon, however, a number of “railroad guerillas” were captured and detained.
“We warn anyone who’s thinking about doing anything illegal on our railroads. All such actions will be classified as acts of terrorism; our reaction will be harsh,” Belarussian Deputy Foreign Minister Henady Kazakevich said.
Some observers have decried the definition of “terrorism” as vague, and said it obliquely refers to recent events.
Among the capital offenses newly included are the use of “nuclear or radioactive objects or waste.” A week ago, Minsk accused southwestern neighbor Lithuania of building nuclear waste “cemeteries” on the border with Belarus.
“The construction of these facilities and the long-term storage of dangerous radioactive fuel waste without any containment is extremely concerning,” said Belarus Foreign Minister Anatoly Glaz.
Lithuania has denied the claim.
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