February 8, Pozirk. State efforts have significantly reduced extremist activities, Deputy Interior Minister Hienadź Kazakievič said.
“Destructive activity has moved from the streets to the Internet,” he told a ministry meeting today. “The situation remains tense” but officials can predict and control it, he added.
Belarusian security services maintain a number of “extremist lists.” The list of extremist groups contains 178 organizations (202 entries), the list of persons “involved in extremist activities” – 3,753 people, the list of “extremist content” – about 1,100 pages, each with dozens of book titles, individual articles, websites and social media accounts.
After 2020, the authorities have added mostly critics to these lists.
Belarus and other countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia use counterterrorism and counterextremism to control society and suppress legitimate public activity, not only to reduce real threats, said Article 19, a rights watchdog.
