Who is the Pohonya Order: Exiled Belarusians trained in Poland to oust Lukashenko

In a wooded area on the Polish side of the Polish-Ukrainian border, hemostatic bandages are distributed to men dressed in clean, fresh camouflage clothing. They kneel on the muddy ground and begin to learn basic survival training.

According to CNN, they call themselves the “Battalion Pohonya”, a group of less than 30 Belarusian exiles living mainly in Poland and other countries across Europe, who hope to unite with hundreds of their compatriots already involved in the battle for Ukraine. Prospective volunteer fighters say that in order to free their country from the noose of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he must first be defeated in Ukraine.

The group, whose members range in age from 19 to 60, bears copies of Kalashnikovs. Almost no one has combat experience.

They are led by dissident and restaurateur Vadim Prokopiev. “We see a window of opportunity,” Prokopiev told CNN on Monday.

Most of the members, including Prokopiev, were forced to flee the country in 2020 when Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Kremlin-backed Putin ally, staged a mass protest rally after winning a landslide victory. from fraud.

“If Ukraine loses this war, Belarus will have zero chance of being liberated,” Prokopiev said. “If Ukraine wins this war, it means that Putin’s hands are too busy and that he is too weak and will not support Lukashenko with resources.”

The Pohonya Battalion wants to join the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, a military unit made up of foreign volunteers, but for the time being they have not yet been accepted.

Hundreds of other Belarusian volunteers are already on the battlefield fighting alongside Ukrainian troops. “Four people have been killed since the start of the war,” said Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Belarus’s opposition leader. “We are getting rid of Lukashenko’s regime in our territory,” Tikhanovskaya told CNN on Wednesday.

At present there is no real threat to the 28-year rule of Lukashenko, often referred to as Europe’s last dictator.

“A long journey starts somewhere, so we build a small force to build a bigger force,” Prokopiev said.

The exiles now hope that Lukashenko’s dependence on Moscow connects his own future with that of Putin and with the result of what has so far been a faltering military invasion of Ukraine.