A shield for right-minded citizens and a sword for the criminal world

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, stands for further integration of law enforcement agencies within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and encourages the maintenance and strengthening of co-operation. The Head of State has outlined this during a conversation with participants of the CIS Interior Ministers Council meeting at the Palace of Independence.

BELTA

The first meeting in the format of the Interior Ministers Council was held in February 1992 in Minsk, and this time Belarus has hosted the 50th jubilee council meeting. Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that life is very changeable, and no one knows how the situation will unfold, “Nowadays, many are looking for benefits and are moving away from our common development trend created in Soviet times… Don’t do this. 

Who knows what will happen to us and our states tomorrow. It may happen that you will have to turn to Russia for help. The recent events suggest that no one needs us. Therefore, we need to stick together. The situation may develop in such a way that our states will not be able to do without our unity. If we fail to understand this today, opponents will do away with us one after another. Should Russia collapse, we will all be drawn into this funnel,” the Belarusian leader emphasised.

On further integration of law enforcement agencies

“Our time-tested equal partnership, backed by a solid contractual framework, is based on the principles of openness, trust and mutual assistance,” said the Head of State. The President underlined that over the years of joint work, the parties had become repeatedly convinced — it is only together that we can effectively counter global, cross-border, and internal threats. “Belarus will always support and co-operate with all of you as far as possible,” Aleksandr Lukashenko assured. “In fact, the CIS interior ministries are a shield for right-minded citizens and a sword for the criminal world. However, this is only true if we stand together. Proceeding from this, Belarus has always been and remains to be a consistent supporter of integration within the Commonwealth of Independent States, and in this case — further integration of law enforcement agencies.” 

On major tasks for CIS law enforcement officers 

The Head of State pointed out that the law enforcement agencies were facing serious tasks. Aleksandr Lukashenko outlined the most important of them in his opening remarks.
The first task is to ensure the rule of law, peace, order and stability in CIS countries. “We see perfectly well how attempts are being made to put our countries at loggerheads and split them from the inside. We are under the pressure of absolutely illegal unilateral economic sanctions. A permanent hybrid war is being waged against our peoples. Each of CIS countries has already experienced at least one colour revolution, which is essentially an attempt at a coup d’état,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. The President stated that Belarus was no exception as it witnessed an attempt to stage a coup in 2020 and ‘take the country by storm’. “They counted on the blitzkrieg, like the fascists, and acted according to well-known playbooks. Back then, we did not allow the collapse of the country or the outbreak of a civil war. We took a number of radical steps to change the situation in Belarus,” the Belarusian leader underscored.
The second crucial task is to counter terrorism. This refers to both internal and external terrorism, which is gaining momentum especially in connection with the activities of the West — primarily the United States — in Ukraine. “The fight against terrorism is a paramount task for us. I always tell my minister [Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov] that we cannot do without the police,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed. The President noted that everyone in the Interior Ministry — from a district police officer to the minister — has complete information about the operational situation in the country; therefore, a lot depends on their work and competent actions. “The main thing is to get the information in advance. When we receive it from you, we begin to act,” the President explained. Aleksandr Lukashenko highlighted that international terrorism relied on the latest technologies and media resources to promote its activities. “An effective fight against this evil requires an integrated approach, including political, social, and economic measures, the development of international co-operation, and information exchange. We will be able to resist this only if we unite our efforts,” the Head of State urged.
The third task is the fight against cybercrime — one of the key and most challenging tasks for the CIS law enforcement agencies, which is relevant for all countries. According to the President, fraud centres including call centres operating on the territory of Ukraine have become more active after the start of the special military operation. The number of attempts to destabilise the work of government agencies through deliberately false reports of mining of important state facilities has increased. There have been registered more scam cases against ordinary citizens. “Especially this year. We are trying to turn the tide on cybercrimes, and based on the reports, I can see that we are succeeding,” the President said. Other CIS countries face similar problems. Therefore, the President believes that the experience on combating such crime will be of interest to everyone.

On celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory and common history

The celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War was listed as one of the significant topics on the agenda of the meeting of the CIS Interior Ministers Council. “Victory Day is the most memorable and solemn date in our common history,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised. “It symbolises the unity and courage of the Soviet peoples in the face of fascism — the most terrible threat to all mankind.” There is no disagreement about this statement in the CIS countries, as noted by the President.

The most important assessment

During a conversation with journalists, Belarus’ Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov has noted that Belarus is a hospitable country, and the task that has been set by the President to the Interior Ministry is to ensure that any person who stays in Belarus should feel safe. The Interior Minister stressed that colleagues from CIS countries are interested in learning from the Belarusian experience. Ivan Kubrakov recalled the well-known statement that crime knows no borders, asserting the necessity for law enforcement officers to collaborate closely with counterparts from other countries, “We have certain practices, and other countries also have similar practices. When interior ministries consolidate their efforts in the fight against crime, there will be order everywhere, in all our countries. Any citizen from any country, whenever they arrive, will feel at home. And we will accomplish this task.”

Platform has proven its relevance

The well-being of all CIS citizens depends on the efforts of law enforcement agencies and their joint work in the CIS space. As highlighted by Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, “Every time we use this platform within the CIS in order to align our positions and address various issues, such as the fight against cybercrime. All parties have already achieved positive outcomes from their interactions. Another subject is the search for fugitive criminals. A specific example — in six months, the interior ministries of CIS member states jointly found 213 individuals. The key focus is on efficiency and progressive development, with concrete results stemming from the law enforcement efforts of all colleagues across CIS countries for the benefit of our citizens. We have assured Aleksandr Grigorievich [Lukashenko] that we will do our best to meet his expectations and to ensure that the instructions of the country leaders are carried out accurately, on time and with a high level of effectiveness.”

High-level interaction

During the meeting of the CIS Interior Ministers Council, Kazakh Interior Minister Yerzhan Sadenov expressed his gratitude to Aleksandr Lukashenko for the warm reception and hospitality on the Belarusian land, particularly noting that, despite the busy presidential schedule, the Head of State was able to attend the meeting in person. Yerzhan Sadenov stressed that all CIS member states are linked by close ties of friendship, “The interaction between the internal affairs bodies of our countries is at a high level. Drawing on the existing legal framework, we successfully search for criminals, execute mutual orders, and share best practices.” 
In general, the CIS Interior Ministers Council is guided in its work by the decisions taken by the heads of states. The meetings traditionally review the progress of these implementations, evaluate the current state of interaction and determine prospects for the near future. 

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by