March 12, Pozirk. Siarhiej Maślak, minister of natural resources and environmental protection, is being held at a pre-trial detention center on charges of bribery, Alaksandar Łukašenka has told officials.
“He was caught red-handed,” the state-run media quoted the Belarusian ruler as saying. “I warned you that we don’t arrest just anyone on the street. Švied [Supreme Court chairman and former Prosecutor General Andrej Švied], and now Hora [Prosecutor General Dźmitryj Hora, former head of the Investigative Committee] are keeping a close eye on this. If necessary, they will report it.”
Maślak was promoted to minister in April 2024, after heading the ministry’s commission on combating corruption. The most recent report on his activities appeared ten days ago.
Belarusian judges convicted 657 people of corruption-related crimes last year, 7.3 percent fewer than in 2024, according to the Supreme Court’s data.
However, the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) compiled annually by Berlin-based Transparency International noted that corruption in Belarus has been worsening over the past five years.
Łukašenka rose to power in 1994 on an anti-corruption platform, but corruption persists more than three decades later.
