He used to protect him, now he wants to kill him
A former police officer who once protected Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has defected from Belarus to fight alongside the Ukrainian army.
In an interview with The Guardian, Viachaslau Hranouski revealed that fighting against Alexander Lukashenko is also a fight against Vladimir Putin, as the two leaders are closely aligned.
Viachaslau Hranouski had been tasked with protecting Lukashenko starting in 2020, a year marked by mass protests in Belarus following the presidential election, which saw Alexander Lukashenko re-elected amid accusations of vote-rigging.
"There I was, protecting the man who had hijacked the country. That was the moment I understood I didn’t want to be part of it anymore," he said.
He fled Belarus in 2020 and joined the Ukrainian army shortly after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Viachaslau Hranouski revealed that many of his fellow Belarusians have also taken up arms against Moscow.
"Lukashenko is my enemy now. The only reason he’s still in power is because of Russia. And the only way to defeat him is to fight Putin," he said.
Viachaslau Hranouski and other Belarusian dissidents are part of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, fighting not only for Ukraine but also against the Belarusian dictatorship.
(QG - Source : The Guardian / The Daily Express / Picture: © Unsplash)