Opening KGB archives up to its chief – researcher

October 2, Pozirk. It is up to the State Security Committee (KGB) chief to decide on the procedure for using the documents stored by the agency, said Andrej Rybakoŭ, director of the Belarusian Records and Archives Research Institute.
At a press conference in Minsk, he was asked whether the country’s archives, particularly the KGB files of 1930–1949, were open to researchers and ordinary citizens.
Rybakoŭ said archivists determine how long to store a document depending on its importance. “It is perfectly clear to us and you that we cannot save everything,” he asserted.
Aleh Voinaŭ, director of the justice ministry’s archives and records department, added that individuals may access files concerning their relatives before the storage term of 75 years expires.
However, they should be able to prove relationship.
The Belarusian KGB has not opened its archive on the 1930s–1950s reprisals to the public. There was a public discussion of the issue when Ukraine and the Baltic countries started declassifying their archives.
The Belarusian KGB is a black box that does not even have a website since after it was taken down by the Cyberpartisans hacktivist group February 2024.
Also read: Hack reveals Belarusian security services wiretapping diplomats
- Politics, SecurityLatvia bans night flights near shared borders with Belarus, Russia until October 8The material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyNumber of Belarusian expats in Lithuania down 10 percent since year’s startThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Security
- PoliticsReprisals: rights groups label journalist, 16 others as political prisonersThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- PoliticsŁukašenka comments on Statkievič’s disappearanceThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SportŁukašenka changes rules for financing of sports federations, clubsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, Politics, SecuritySix Belarusian-registered aircraft remain under US sanctionsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- Politics, SecurityBelarusian teen released as witness in Warsaw drone caseThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityBelarusian television broadcasts interview with Russian occupation officialThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityNausėda: UAV that flew into Lithuania was stray Russian drone targeting UkraineThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, Politics
- EconomyBiełstat: industrial inventories up 36 percent in January-AugustThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- Politics, Society
- Economy
- Politics, SocietyNew ideology manuals push Belarus “peace and stability” narrative, attack UkraineThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Society
- EconomyBelarus' GDP posts modest growth in January-AugustThe material is available only to POZIRK+