Belarusian volunteers wave the flag of Kastus Kalinouski Regiment during a protest in Sofia Square on March 14, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Belarus served as a launchpad for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Four years later, one of the country’s most prominent anti-regime groups is increasingly taking the fight back to Russia.
Some Belarusians took up arms and joined units fighting for Ukraine. Others joined a digital resistance movement. Known as the Cyber Partisans, the group has spent the past five years targeting the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and, more recently, Russia itself.
Founded after Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election, the Cyber Partisans have become one of Eastern Europe’s most prominent cyber resistance groups. Among their best-known operations are the 2022 disruption of Belarusian Railways, which complicated Russian troop movements during the invasion of Ukraine, the exposure of KGB-related records and cyber operations against state institutions.
From Belarus To Russia
Now, according to spokesperson Yuliana Shemetovets, the group’s focus is shifting further toward Russian targets.
“We plan to publish our strategy in the near future. All we can say now is that focus is on Russia,” Shemetovets told me. “Once Russia no longer poses a substantial threat to Belarus sovereignty we will switch back to Belarus focus.”
That shift has forced the organization to tackle more difficult targets. “The group has evolved in sophistication and scale,” Shemetovets said. “We now attack Russian networks which are much better protected.”
According to Shemetovets, membership has remained stable over the past year because AI has become an important tool for scaling operations. “We plan to focus more on destructive operations targeting Russia,” Shemetovets said.
Belarusian intelligence services also continue trying to infiltrate and disrupt the group.
“It’s a constant threat we deal with regularly,” Shemetovets said.
A Wider Resistance Movement
The Cyber Partisans operate alongside a broader Belarusian resistance movement that includes the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, a unit of Belarusian volunteers fighting for Ukraine.
“We’re fighting for Ukraine. But we also understand that Belarus will never be free until Russia loses its grip on the region,” regiment commander Pavel Shurmei told me.
For many Belarusian volunteers, the war is about more than defending Ukraine. They see Russia’s defeat as a prerequisite for political change at home.
“Victory for Ukraine is a victory for Belarus,” said Shurmei. “Only after Russia is defeated can we hope to remove Lukashenka.”
According to Shurmei, the Cyber Partisans provide practical support to Belarusian fighters. “The Cyber Partisans help a lot. They verify everything. If we need to confirm information, we go to them,” he said.
The threat is taken seriously in Minsk. According to Alesia Rudnik, director of the Belarusian think tank Center for New Ideas, Belarusian authorities have opened hundreds of criminal cases against citizens accused of supporting Ukraine and have targeted activists involved in documenting military activity and assisting Belarusian volunteers.
The group’s activities come amid rising tensions between Kyiv and Minsk. In June, Belarusian opposition leaders warned that Minsk was moving onto a wartime footing through increased military spending, expanded recruitment and deeper integration with Russia’s defense industry.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a public ultimatum to Lukashenka, demanding the removal of infrastructure that Ukraine says helps guide Russian drone attacks.
Political analyst Balázs Jarábik argued in a June 17 essay for Carnegie Politika that Kyiv’s tougher stance toward Belarus reflects an effort to shape the future security order in Eastern Europe and resist efforts to normalize relations with Lukashenka’s regime.
For many Belarusian opposition groups, Russia has become the primary challenge to the country’s future.
For now, the Cyber Partisans’ attention is firmly fixed on Moscow. “Once Russia no longer poses a substantial threat to Belarus sovereignty we will switch back to Belarus focus,” said Shemetovets.