The Honorable Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
Copy to: Ruslan Kravchenko
Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Request for the Initiation of Criminal Proceedings against Alexander Lukashenko
Dear Mr. President,
We, the undersigned representatives of the democratic community of Belarus, representing the people of Belarus, appeal to you to ensure a proper legal assessment of the actions of Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, a citizen of the Republic of Belarus (born August 30, 1954), and to initiate criminal proceedings regarding his direction of a state apparatus employing methods of terror and his involvement in international crimes committed against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.
Grounded in the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the norms of international humanitarian law, and taking into account the Geneva Declaration on Terrorism (1987) as a doctrinal reference on state terrorism, we state that the actions of Alexander Lukashenko contain legally demonstrable elements of particularly grave international crimes, including complicity in a war of aggression, war crimes, cross-border terrorism, as well as acts potentially falling under the legal definition of genocide, including the forcible transfer of children from one national group to another within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, as well as the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
We request that the actions of Alexander Lukashenko be investigated under the following provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CCU):
1. CRIMES AGAINST PEACE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Article 437 of the CCU — Planning, preparation, initiation, and conduct of a war of aggression
Legal Basis. Pursuant to UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 "Definition of Aggression" (Article 3, paragraph 'f'), the action of a State in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the disposal of another State, to be used by that other State for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third State, qualifies as an act of aggression.
Facts and Evidence of Conducting and Supplying War. In February 2022, a full-scale ground invasion of the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions of Ukraine was launched directly from the territory of Belarus. A. Lukashenko did not merely provide a launchpad at the onset of the invasion but transferred the entire infrastructure of the Republic of Belarus to long-term maintenance of the aggressor's military needs. Belarusian military airfields, logistical routes, and supply networks were utilized by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to launch missile and bomb strikes and deploy occupation troops under the direct authorization, political support, and active assistance of A. Lukashenko.
Provision of Rear Support and Training Grounds. The Lukashenko regime assumed the function of a strategic rear for the Russian Armed Forces. Continuous logistical, material, and medical support for Russian units is systematically provided. The capacities of the Belarusian military-industrial complex and civilian enterprises have been deployed to repair and modernize damaged Russian military hardware. Belarusian military training grounds (Obuz-Lesnovsky, Lepelsky, Osipovichsky, etc.) and military infrastructure have been provided for the continuous training, integration, and preparation of mobilized and regular Russian troops prior to their deployment to the combat zone in Ukraine. Such conduct may also give rise to individual criminal responsibility for aiding and abetting aggression under principles reflected in Article 25 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Article 436 of the CCU — War propaganda and disinformation campaigns
Deliberate Misdirection and Deception to Cover Aggression. Lukashenko and his subordinate apparatus executed a targeted special disinformation operation aimed at the leadership and people of Ukraine. On the eve of the invasion, during the joint military exercises "Allied Resolve 2022," the Belarusian side, at the highest state and military levels, provided official public and non-public assurances that no attack would occur from Belarusian territory and that Russian troops would depart immediately after the drills. This deliberate deception was consciously designed to lower Ukraine's guard, conceal the deployment of strike groups of the Russian Armed Forces, and grant them the advantage of tactical surprise when crossing the border on February 24, 2022.
Information Propaganda. Systematic public statements by A. Lukashenko following the start of the invasion aimed at justifying Russian military aggression against Ukraine, fabricating pretexts for war (including the public fabrication on March 11, 2022, regarding a "preventive strike from Ukraine"), and utilizing state-controlled media to broadcast hostile military propaganda.
2. CRIMES OF GENOCIDE AND WAR CRIMES
Article 442 of the CCU — Genocide
Legal Basis. The international legal definition of genocide is established by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, including Article II(e), which defines as genocide the forcible transfer of children from one national, ethnical, racial, or religious group to another when committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, such a group as such. Corresponding provisions are also incorporated into the national legislation of Ukraine, including the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Under international law, participation in, facilitation of, or complicity in acts of genocide entails individual criminal responsibility irrespective of official position or state capacity.
Facts and Evidence. According to the report published by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL) on November 16, 2023, at least 2,442 Ukrainian children were forcibly and unlawfully transferred from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the territory of Belarus. Similar conduct involving the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children has already formed the basis for arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against senior Russian officials.
Essence of the Crime. The financing of these transfers was directly approved by A. Lukashenko through the budget of the Union State. On the territory of Belarus, Ukrainian children were subjected to compulsory ideological indoctrination, militarization, and systematic assimilation. The explicit aim of these actions was the eradication of their Ukrainian national identity, amounting to the deliberate mental and cultural destruction of a part of the Ukrainian national group via its forced absorption. These actions contain elements consistent with the legal definition of genocide.
Article 438 of the CCU — Violations of the laws and customs of war (Unlawful transfer of protected persons)
Legal Basis. Pursuant to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 8(2)(a)(vii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the unlawful deportation or transfer of protected civilians from occupied territories constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law and a war crime entailing individual criminal responsibility.
Facts and Evidence. The territory and state infrastructure of the Republic of Belarus were systematically used for the reception, accommodation, coordination, and controlled movement of Ukrainian civilians, including minors, unlawfully transferred from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Belarusian state institutions and organizations affiliated with the Lukashenko regime participated in providing logistical, administrative, and organizational support for these operations.
Essence of the Crime. By placing the territory, transport infrastructure, state facilities, and administrative resources of Belarus at the disposal of operations involving the unlawful transfer of protected persons during an international armed conflict, A. Lukashenko and his subordinate state apparatus materially facilitated conduct constituting violations of the laws and customs of war under international humanitarian law.
3. SYSTEMIC TERRORISM AND FACILITATION OF TERRORIST ACTIVITY
Articles 258-3 and 258-5 of the CCU — Creation of a terrorist organization, participation in it, and financing of terrorism (Reinforced substantiation of the offense)
The Regime as a System Employing Methods of State Terror. The practices of state terror implemented by A. Lukashenko correspond to characteristics of state terrorism described in the Geneva Declaration on Terrorism of March 21, 1987. Under Lukashenko’s leadership, an extensive system of political repression has been established in Belarus operating through methods of terror: deliberate intimidation of the population, total surveillance, systemic use of torture, destruction of independent media, mass arbitrary arrests, and show trials. The revocation of baseline civic rights under the pretext of "combating extremism" allowed the regime to completely suppress the anti-war resistance of the Belarusian people. Thus, domestic state terror served as the technical precondition for deploying external terrorist aggression.
Cooperation with International Terrorist Structures (The Wagner PMC Case). Following the recognition of the Wagner PMC by Ukrainian authorities and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an armed criminal structure implicated in acts of terrorism and war crimes, A. Lukashenko deliberately provided this group with state-funded military bases, logistical infrastructure, financing, and training grounds on the territory of Belarus for the training of mercenaries. This constitutes conduct falling under Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine concerning the facilitation of the activities of a terrorist organization.
Organization of Hybrid Cross-Border Pressure (The Migration Crisis). The state-organized transportation, coordination, and instrumentalization of migrants by the KGB of the Republic of Belarus and the State Border Committee for the purpose of destabilizing the borders of European states, including Poland and Latvia, constitutes a form of organized hybrid destabilization and cross-border coercion directed against nations providing critical defense assistance to Ukraine.
Nuclear Blackmail as an Act of Intimidation. The systemic renunciation of Belarus’s non-nuclear status, together with public statements by A. Lukashenko concerning the deployment, control, and potential use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and European states, constitutes a form of nuclear intimidation and coercion aimed at pressuring the international community and coercing Ukraine under the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Such actions may constitute unlawful threats of force prohibited under Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations, which obliges states to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. The International Court of Justice, in its 1996 Advisory Opinion “Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons,” confirmed that the concepts of “threat” and “use” of force under Article 2(4) are inseparable under international law. Relevant provisions concerning aggression, war crimes, and weapons of mass destruction are also incorporated into the national legislation of Ukraine, including Articles 437, 438, and 439 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Articles 110 and 110-2 of the CCU — Encroachment upon the territorial integrity of Ukraine and financing such actions
Facts and Evidence. Material, technical, commodity, and military-industrial support (including the transfer of ammunition from the stockpiles of the Armed Forces of Belarus and the repair of Russian military hardware at Belarusian state-owned plants) aimed at forcibly altering the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
WE REQUEST:
- To initiate full criminal proceedings under Articles 442, 437, 438, 436, 110, 110-2, 258-3, and 258-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine against Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, a citizen of the Republic of Belarus.
- To recognize the Lukashenko regime as a regime systematically employing methods of state terrorism within the framework of national criminal proceedings for its employment of state and cross-border terror, and to initiate a corresponding political resolution through the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
- To initiate procedures aimed at placing Alexander Lukashenko on an international wanted list as a suspect in committing genocide, grave international crimes, and cross-border acts of terrorism against Ukraine and international security.
The initiation of these proceedings will reaffirm the principle of inevitable accountability for international crimes of the highest category and serve as an act of historical justice.
Respectfully, and with hope for a principled position,
Dr. Valery Tsepkalo
Chairman of the Board, Belarus Democratic Forum, former Ambassador to the USA, Founder and CEO Belarus HiTech Park, Presidential Candidate 2020
Dmitry Bolkunets
Secretary General, Belarus Democratic Forum