Act proactively

On March 21st, the President of Belarus held a large meeting with the country’s security, defence and law enforcement agencies. Attending the meeting were representatives and management of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Investigation Department of the State Control Committee, the Investigative Committee, the KGB, the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry, the State Border Committee, the State Customs Committee, the State Forensic Examination Committee, courts of general jurisdiction and heads of regions.

“The topic of our today’s meeting is national security and the situation in the country’s security, defence and law enforcement agencies. At the beginning of every year each law enforcement agency reports to me on the situation within their jurisdiction. You understand what kind of reports these are. I do not mean to say that they are not professional. They are very professional. As I noticed, however, the tendency and trend is to show everything in a good light. I do not mean it is a lie. It is not. Our security, defence and law enforcement services are doing quite well. But there are shortcomings,” the Belarusian leader stressed.
The Head of State noted that he had no opportunity to attend the outcome meetings of each agency’s collegiums this year. Aleksandr Lukashenko plans to do so at the beginning of next year.

“The highest level of external threats necessitates paying close attention to internal threats. Moreover, these are links in the same chain. The latest reports show how relevant today’s discussion is. You know the situation by and large. As I keep saying, we should not lower our guard. 

The other day, a foreign terrorist was eliminated in Grodno. The special services did a great job. An arsenal of weapons and explosives was seized. These weapons were intended for high-profile terrorist attacks against individuals and government officials. What I want to praise them specifically for is that in such a difficult situation when the shootout was taking place within a limited space and when the terrorists used grenades and firearms (automatic), not a single member of Group A involved in detaining this person was killed. Thus, they learned the lessons from the tragedy that happened in Minsk. It was a good operation, good job. As I often say, people who risk their lives should always be acknowledged and supported,” the President said.
In general, as reported to the Head of State, the overall crime situation in the country is under control — the total number of crimes has not changed over the past year. The number of murders has decreased. The number of people died from criminal offenses has reduced by 13 percent.
“However, this is not the reason to get complacent. In the past year there have been a number of negative trends to which we must surely pay attention. Work on crime prevention, especially phishing, is insufficient. The number of victims of these phishing scams has doubled. The number of pensioners who fall victim to so-called phone scammers, has increased nearly fivefold,” the Belarusian leader emphasised.
The President asked about the measures the police and other government agencies were planning to take in this regard. 
“We need to protect these people. Children and pensioners must know that the government will always support and protect them,” the Head of State stressed. 
At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko demanded to pull out all the stops to eliminate violence against women and children, 

“Women and children continue to be victims of violence, including sexual abuse. It is necessary to step up efforts to protect them, as well as to prevent juvenile delinquency. Men, if we cannot protect our women, we are worthless! It must be eradicated from our society by the toughest methods. Like the fight against terrorism.”

It was also highlighted that numerous grave crimes committed by persons who had a prior arrest record are recorded. 
“Recidivism is particularly common among those who served a jail sentence. Here, too, we need to take tougher action against them. Some of them are granted early release, some serve their sentence in full. When they are out of jail, they go back to their old wicked ways. I want to reiterate: a jobless person is a potential criminal. The measures that we take to place them into jobs are insufficient,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The President emphasised the need in this regard to pay close attention to those who are not working today. 

The President noted, “If a person doesn’t work, where does he or she take money for a living? It is clear where. Our society doesn’t live in a vacuum and sees everything that’s going on. Some people believe that law enforcement personnel are primarily interested in figures and ratings that measure their performance instead of people’s destinies. Yes, we need figures and ratings. Nobody argues against that. But if we live purely for the sake of figures and ratings… I’d like to find out whether it is true, whether we have moved away from departmental quotas as a system to measure performance.”
The Head of State stated that not everything has been done to ensure the security and safety of the population. The number of people killed in traffic accidents remains significant. Aleksandr Lukashenko was also concerned about crimes among military personnel, including crimes committed by officers of various defence, security, and law enforcement agencies. The President remarked he had repeatedly directed the defence minister’s attention to the inadmissibility of the things that sometimes happen in army units.
“On the whole, not everything is fine with army discipline. We see perfectly well and understand what is going on at the borders of our country. The question is whether we fully ensure the security of our state and citizens,” the Belarusian leader wondered.
Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrei Shved reported on the crime situation in the country at a meeting with the Head of State. He noted that last year the law enforcement agencies took measures to ensure a stable social and political situation, law and order, protection of citizens against criminal offences. The number of murders, grievous bodily harm has decreased. Fewer people have died from intentional crimes and crimes through negligence. He also reported on progress in the work to counter drug crime. The number of such crimes has decreased, the number of deaths from drug use has halved.
“Efforts to combat cybercrime are gradually yielding results. There are other positive results of the anti-crime effort. However, many issues still remain in place. 
First of all, with regard to countering extremism and, as the beginning of this year showed, terrorism. The Prosecutor General’s Office takes a clear and consistent position: violation of the principle of the inevitability of punishment breeds impunity and, as a consequence, new, more serious crimes,” Andrei Shved emphasised.
The head of the supervisory agency noted that the number of violations of the procedure for the use of airspace by unmanned aerial vehicles and ultra-small aircraft is growing. He urged to adopt uniform rules for the use, sale and operation of drones and to strengthen responsibility.
The conversation at the level of the President lasted about three hours, during which the work of the country’s security, defence and law enforcement agencies was thoroughly discussed in detail.
As Andrei Shved told reporters after the event, the Head of State gave clear instructions, including on strengthening the coordinating role of the prosecutor’s office. As the President said, the role of the prosecutor’s office should be significantly strengthened, including in conducting analytics and making prompt proposals to eliminate certain negative consequences. In this work, the prosecution authorities will work closely with the State Secretariat of the Security Council and the Supreme Court to engage in analytical work on the activities of the country’s security, defence and law enforcement agencies, identify trends and develop response measures, including submitting their proposals to the level of the President.
Conclusions were drawn for each area of work of law enforcement agencies and appropriate instructions were given. The main message to violators is to be discourteous. It was also about strengthening work to counter extremism and terrorism. As noted, it is necessary to interact more with society, people and local authorities in this direction. 

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by
Photos by BELTA