A former Belarusian officer who fought for Ukraine has been extradited on charges of involvement with a terrorist organization, according to the KGB in Minsk. Vasily Veremeychik is also accused of participating in the 2020 uprising in Belarus.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus has designated the ‘Kalinovsky Regiment’, a unit made up of Belarusian volunteers within Ukraine’s military, as a terrorist organization. The outfit was founded in March 2022 and named after the leader of an 1863 anti-Russian uprising.
Veremeychik was detained in Vietnam and extradited to Belarus earlier this month, Konstantin Bychek, the head of investigations of the Belarusian KGB, announced on the television channel ONT on Thursday.
According to the media in Minsk, Veremeychik is a former officer of the Armed Forces of Belarus who sided with the opposition during the 2020 anti-government protests. He emigrated to Ukraine in early 2021 and settled with his family in Lviv.
In early 2022, Veremeychik joined the Kastus Kalinovsky Battalion, which later became a regiment. He subsequently rose through the ranks to deputy battalion commander, fighting in Kherson, Lugansk and Nikolaev Regions and earning the ‘Ukraine Above All!’ medal. His call sign was “Patsuk” (rat).
In June 2023, the regiment issued a joint statement with Belarusian self-proclaimed president-in-exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, calling on his countrymen to “wait for the signal” for an uprising against President Alexander Lukashenko.
At some point this year, however, ‘Patsuk’ got into a “disagreement” with the regimental command. At their request, the Ukrainian military intelligence had him declared persona non grata, so he had to leave the country.
Veremeychik’s first stop was Lithuania, but the authorities in Vilnius expelled him shortly thereafter, citing his previous service in the Belarusian military in declaring him a national security threat. He then departed for Vietnam.
In September, the Supreme Court of Belarus declared Ukraine’s Kastus Kalinovsky Regiment a terrorist organization. At some point this month, Veremeychik was arrested in Vietnam under circumstances that remain unclear. Minsk sent Hanoi an extradition request for the militant on November 13 and the Vietnamese authorities sent him to Belarus the following day, the KGB officials said.