Donate
by ru en
Donate

We investigate corruption, uncover fake news and analyze the news agenda. The BIC is a member of the global network of investigative journalists.

Our journalists are the recipients of the national award “Free Word” from the Association of Journalists of Belarus in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. At "Free Word" 2021 BIC’s team also received first place for Analytics

BIC is a member of the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)

We are also members of GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network)

News

Today

How Lukashenko Supported Assad While Helping the Pentagon To Arm the Opposition

Bulgaria was the intermediary in the supply of anti-tank missile systems.

Aleksandr Lukashenko and Bashar Assad
Source: AP/Nikolai Petrov, BelTA / Aleksandr Lukashenko and Bashar Assad are seen during a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, July 26, 2010
Aleksandr Lukashenko has supported and continues to support Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria. However, it seems that he also has supported Assad's opponents. During the Syrian civil war that began back in 2011, the local opposition likely received weapons from Belarus to fight against the government army.

In 2015, Belarus sent 240 portable anti-tank missile launchers ATGW 9P135M "Konkurs" (NATO reporting name AT-5 Spandrel) and 140 automatic grenade launchers AGS-17 worth a total of €37.9 million to Bulgaria. That same year, Sofia transferred 136 "Konkurs" systems to the United States and another 80 to Saudi Arabia. The "Konkurs" weapons are Soviet-made anti-tank missile systems and experts say that they were not of interest to the American and Saudi armies. During this very period, the U.S. was implementing a program to arm the Syrian opposition.

Additionally, representatives of the American defense company "Regulus Global" have claimed in email correspondence that its military instructors were trained in Belarus on how to use such missile systems. This became known from papers related to the investigation of the death of one of these instructors in Bulgaria due to an accident at a training ground. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) identified "Regulus Global" as a Pentagon contractor.

A representative of U.S. Special Operations Command, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Allen commented to BuzzFeed in 2015 that the Pentagon was purchasing missiles from Belarus for its program to arm Syrian rebels.

At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko has repeatedly expressed support for Bashar al-Assad. After reports emerged about Assad fleeing to Moscow, Lukashenko assured that he had "good relations" with the former Syrian leader.

"He is not a dictator at all. He treated people as a doctor. He never killed anyone," Lukashenko said on December 10, 2024, during a working trip to Borisov, a city in the Minsk region of Belarus.

These were not the first words of support for Assad from official Minsk. In July 2019, Lukashenko stated that "Belarus has been on the side of the people and authorities of this country since the first days of the conflict in Syria." In response, he received gratitude for support during a difficult period from the Syrian leader. Even earlier, in 2018, when the U.S., United Kingdom, and France carried out airstrikes in Syria in response to a Douma chemical attack, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry condemned those measures, questioning whether the Syrian authorities have indeed used toxic substances. 

On November 27, 2024, opposition armed groups launched a large-scale offensive against government forces in Aleppo province. By the evening of December 7, Assad's opponents had taken control of several major cities, including Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Hama, and Homs. Next day they entered Damascus and Bashar Assad resigned as President of Syria.