Just a quick response to mark-hunter: the last time the British army used bayonets offensively was by the Scots Guard in the battle of Mount Tumbledown in 1982.
From: '
The Daily Telegraph' (but behind a paywall):
The Belarus ‘railway rebels’, who dare stop Vladimir Putin’s invasion in its tracks
Under the cover of darkness, residents in crucial junction towns try to sabotage Russian supply trains from passing through to Ukraine
ByNataliya Vasilyeva, RUSSIA CORRESPONDENT31 March 2022 • 3:05pm
Rebels are doing everything they can to stop Russian supply trains passing through to Ukraine
In
small towns across Belarus, a daring alliance of “railway rebels” are waging a quiet war against Vladimir Putin’s invading army.
Under the cover of darkness, residents in crucial junction towns steal on to the nearby tracks and do whatever they can to stop Russian resupply trains from being able to pass through on the way to Ukraine.
Some place large logs on the railway sleepers and set fire to them. Others torch the electric relay cabinets - a crucial piece of equipment that controls traffic and can take weeks to repair.
These partisans choose their targets based on leaked intelligence from railway workers on their side; information such as the schedule of a military train carrying Russian weapons, but disguised as an ordinary shipment of glass. If these rebels have anything to do with it, the train will not reach the front line in Ukraine any time soon.
More than a dozen major acts of sabotage have been reported across the Belarusian railway network in recent weeks in what has been dubbed a “railway resistance”, as anti-war opposition activists seek to derail Moscow’s efforts to resupply its beleaguered troops around Kyiv through Belarus.
In the most recent incident, traffic between two stations on the railway between Minsk and Ukraine’s Chernihiv was halted on Monday after two relay cabinets were burned down.
Belarus is a key launchpad for invasion
The overall effect has been significant. Belarus is a key launchpad for Russia’s invasion of the north of Ukraine and this is Moscow’s route into
Kyiv’s northern suburbs as well as the
city of Chernihiv in the north east.
“It’s a real nuisance for the Russian military: Their safety protocols for moving the trainloads are compromised,” Siarhei Voitekhovich, a former Belarusian Railways employee who now coordinates the work of Belarusian “railway partisans” from exile, told The Telegraph.
“Equipment gets destroyed. It takes hours, days, to put things back in operation.”
The Belarusian opposition in exile said it has been coordinating the attacks through a network of supporters still inside the country who have signed up to help the underground resistance.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader in exile, has called on Belarusians to do everything in their power to foil Russia’s invasion, saying her movement’s goal was to “cripple the infrastructure that is helping the regime to support the war, gradually, day by day.”
Major acts of sabotage were reported within the days of the Russian invasion, with crucial signal equipment destroyed in three different locations on the night of February 28.
The response from the regime of Alexander Lukashenko,
the Belarusian dictator and now little more than a puppet for the Kremlin, has been swift and severe.
At least 52 people, including over 30 railway workers, have been detained on charges including treason, terrorism and spying, according to Belarusian investigators and Viasna, Belarus’ major human rights group.
Ukrainian soldiers destroy Russian equipment at the station in Trostyanets. The so-called 'railway rebels' have been trying to stop Russian resupply trains on their way to Ukraine
In some cases, whole towns have been penalised. Residents in Stoubtsy, a town of 17,000 just south west of Minsk, report being “terrorised” by Belarus’ much-feared organised crime unit in the past three weeks, with a spate of arrests and police raids worse even than during Mr Lukashenko’s crackdown on the opposition movement in 2020.
“There is no other way to describe it other than a punitive operation. They barge into people’s homes, break down the doors. The only goal is to track down those behind the attacks,” a human rights activist in the town, who requested anonymity for fear of persecution, told The Telegraph. “Violence and torture is rampant.”
Forced confessions
They said they had documented 32 arrests and police raids since a special task force from Minsk was sent into town at the end of February.
One of those arrested, Siarhei Hlebko, was forced to make a confession despite showing clear signs of being beaten, with injuries on his nose and forehead - a typical Belarusian tactic. He was accused of putting logs of wood on the tracks and setting them on fire.
Similar forced confessions emerged on Wednesday on a pro-government social media account showing eight detained railway employees admitting to being involved.
Russian armoured fighting vehicles are loaded on freight railway carriages in Bakhchysarai, Crimea CREDIT: Russian Defence Ministry Press Servuce/Shutterstock
The videos show Belarusian authorities are keen to make it clear that they are clamping down hard on railway saboteurs, describing them as “terrorists”.
“We don’t talk to terrorists, we are destroying them,” the country’s interior ministry said of the charges facing Mr Hlebko and others.
Yet most of the acts of sabotage are being carried out by ordinary Belarusians who are disillusioned and frustrated with their government’s decision to side with Moscow.
It’s risky work, but it’s as much as they can do, said former railway worker Mr Voitekhovich, who fled Belarus last year to join the opposition movement in exile.
“Those who work on the railway are under constant risk. They risk at least 15 years in prison if they are caught.”
www.bbc.com
