Arrested Minister of Natural Resources chose the "Brylo strategy"

On March 12, 2026, Lukashenka casually announced at a meeting that Siarhei Masliak, Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, was in a pre-trial detention center. "He was caught red-handed... If guilty, go and answer," he said.

On March 19, Masliak was dismissed from his post "due to a misconduct incompatible with civil service." Maksіm Lysenka became the new minister in June.

Masliak's case, as "Nasha Niva" learned, is far from over. The official is still in the KGB isolation ward and is actively cooperating with the investigation, implicating more and more people.

"Masliak chose Brylo's strategy, who, in fact, was in the same place and almost at the same time. He accepted the game imposed by investigators: 'if you want to get out, turn in a friend.' Already some ordinary foresters are ending up in the KGB pre-trial detention center and, in the process, admitting to bribes of $200," a person from the forestry industry revealed. According to him, KGB investigators went through many districts because "the minister remembered something about our district."

This information coincides with public data. In the same March-April, more than two dozen forestry workers were detained: forest masters, directors of forestries, chief specialists of regional forestry associations.

In one of the episodes, the accused was charged with receiving a part – "at least 20 kilograms" – of a pig carcass for selecting a better plot for timber harvesting.

In July 2026, a scheme for the theft of over 230 cubic meters of wood was uncovered in Dokshytsy forestry. In Valozhyn, a site master was sentenced to two and a half years of restricted freedom for a bribe of 400 rubles. In August, the prosecutor's office began checking the forestries of the Brest region; in September, the head of a forestry unit received two years in prison and an 18,000 ruble fine for a 900 ruble bribe, and so on.

According to the job vacancy bank, directors are currently being sought for the Mahilioŭ and Klimavichy forestries. In the Smarhoń forestry, the director's surname and photo have disappeared from the management page, as have in Malaryta. Chief forester vacancies are open in Bykhaŭ, Navahrudak, Rasony, Dzisna, and other forestries. Only recently were the vacant positions of chief foresters filled in Pastavy and Homiel forestries.

The director of the Staff Training Center of the Ministry of Forestry has changed.

Why do we call ex-Minister Masliak's behavior during the investigation the "Brylo strategy"?

Ihar Brylo is a former Minister of Agriculture, later Lukashenka's assistant for the Viciebsk region. The KGB arrested him in November 2023 in the "dairy case." He actively cooperated with the investigation and admitted to bribes totaling $2 million. The indictment in the case was reportedly based on Brylo's confessional testimony.

In July 2026, the court sentenced Brylo to 12 years in a penal colony.

46-year-old Siarhei Masliak graduated from the Belarusian State Technological University and began his career as an assistant forester in the Volma forestry of the Minsk forestry. He then worked at "Belhiprales," headed "Zelianbud" of the Pershamaiski district of Minsk and the Minsk City Committee of Natural Resources, and for five years was the head of the Zavodski district administration. He became Minister of Natural Resources in April 2024.

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