Churches of Belarus under KGB surveillance

September 16, 2010 · Adam Bondaruk, Baptists, Victor Belykh, AUCECB, Persecution, Interview, KGB, Books, Unregistered Pentecostals, Nikolay Kotyakov, On Emigration, United Church of Evangelical Christians, Vestibule, Petr Saenko, Pentecostals, Religious Mafia, Slavik Radchuk, Contemporary Persecution, Security Services

As reported to the author of the article by Vladimir Malakhovsky, a member of the Belarusian Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith (KhVE): The KGB is collecting all sermons and statements that mention the authorities, trying to gain control over Christian communities. The security services are attempting to replace the leadership of the Union and push their own people in. I know for certain that there was an attempt to pressure ministers, specifically regarding the content of their sermons.”

A source in the leadership of the Belarusian Union of Evangelical Faith Christians (KhVE), who asked not to be named, also confirmed to the author: “Churches are under covert surveillance, all phones are tapped, even mobile ones.” According to Vladimir Malakhovsky, the intense interest of the security services is linked to the noticeably increased political activity of churches after the March elections last year. Thus, according to him, in KhVE churches, the majority from the Brest region support Lukashenko.

But the majority of young people in the Minsk church are categorically opposed to what they consider an “unjust” authority, and a year ago they went to rallies “despite the ministers asking them not to do so.” A parishioner of an evangelical church of the KhVE Union from the city of Pinsk suggested in a conversation with the author that the security services have no right to interfere in the activities of Christian communities, since they are not involved in politics: “We are outside politics; there is no direct anti-government agitation. Officially, our leadership has no right to make any political statements under the threat of church closures.” But the church cannot control the actions of every one of its parishioners.

That is why, in March 2006, many members of evangelical churches joined the anti-government rallies in Minsk and are preparing to continue their struggle against Lukashenko, who, in their view, came to power through manipulation. Thus, according to Vladimir Malakhovsky, during the presidential elections, leaders of Protestant communities often encountered violations of the law: “A minister arrives at a polling station, he is not on the list, they reassure him: don’t worry, we’ll add you now. Another minister arrives, someone has already voted for him, and when he protests, they respond: don’t worry, we’ll add you later.”

After the brutal dispersal of opposition demonstrations, where there was a significant number of representatives from Protestant communities, Alexander Lukashenko criticized “non-titular” confessions: “Such anti-Slavic plans and aspirations are directed not only against the Orthodox Church, its parishioners, who make up the majority of Belarusians, but also against the state. Their goal is to strike at the most valuable achievements of our country: socio-political stability, peace, and order.”

Following the president, a special statement was issued by the Center for Information and Public Relations of the KGB of the Republic of Belarus. It stated that the Belarusian KGB set itself the task of extinguishing the consequences of the surge in Protestant opposition activity, and that “government bodies, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, took preventive measures to prevent the negative impact of destructive cults on the population of Belarus.”

As reported by the human rights organization “Slavic Legal Center”: “Whereas earlier the authorities sought to limit the public and missionary activities of ‘non-traditional’ confessions, particularly Protestant communities, currently officials and law enforcement agencies are also cracking down on prayer meetings in private homes; there is deliberate interference in the private lives of believers, as in Uzbekistan, China, Vietnam, and North Korea.

The Lukashenko regime has, in fact, openly declared evangelical believers to be enemies of the Belarusian state.” Undoubtedly, the suppression of civil rights, which has become a daily reality in Belarus, is causing the politicization of Protestant communities, to which about a third of the population belongs. The opposition, forced out of politics, is retreating into church catacombs. And in order to prevent the emergence of an influential anti-government evangelical fronde, the Belarusian KGB — Alexander Lukashenko’s “sharp ear” — is now carefully listening to everything happening behind the church fence.

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