The "Black Rus" group, which emerged after the incident on the Belarusian-Latvian border, has been designated "extremist"
The Ministry of Information has once again updated the "Republican List of Extremist Materials." Among others, it now includes the "Black Rus" initiative, whose alleged existence became known after the recent incident on the Belarusian-Latvian border. Its website, Telegram channel, YouTube channel, TikTok account, and logo have been declared "extremist."
A symbol frequently used in "Black Rus" videos
The incident on the Belarusian-Latvian border took place on the night of October 5 to 6. Armed individuals from the Belarusian side escorted a group of 20 migrants attempting to cross the border illegally. They threatened Latvian military personnel who were preventing the migrants from passing through. Later, the unidentified armed men crossed into Latvia themselves, damaged an electrical distribution board, stole surveillance cameras, and returned to Belarusian territory.
A claim of responsibility for the incident appeared on a Telegram channel. In a video recording, an individual with a concealed face and a disguised voice, identifying himself as Neman, claimed that three members of "Black Rus" had crossed the border in Krāslava Municipality and engaged in a clash with Latvian soldiers. According to him, this was merely a test for the Latvian side, which it failed. The group's representative also threatened further sabotage on other sections of the border.
However, Latvian intelligence services and analysts treated the reports of the alleged existence of such a group with skepticism. Jānis Sārts, Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, believes that an independent "Black Rus" group does not actually exist, and that its public activity is an information operation conducted by Russian and Belarusian special services. In his view, such a front allows the Belarusian authorities to deny their involvement in the events at the border.
In addition to the phantom "Black Rus," the following were also added to the "extremist" list this time:
- the books and publications "Political History of the Belarusian Language up to 1996" by Ihar Sluchak (Vilnius, 2026), "Breadcrumbs. Collection of Prison Poems and Texts" by Yauhen Rubashka, "Sociotechnics: Foundations" by Mikhail Volchak, and "Euro-renovation for Belarus. Conversations with Count Aleksander Pruszyński";
- the Telegram channel Freedom BEL;
- the Threads accounts thisminsk, tolyn_tolyanich, ihar_kliashuk, andrei_shlik, and natalliamerynava9.