Belarusians who fought against Russia with Ukraine face new battle

Ivan Tamashevich has battled alongside Kyiv’s forces against Russia on various fronts.

But at 39, two years after enlisting, he gave up the fight for health reasons in March.

His frozen shoulder caused stiffness and pain, and engaging in combat felt irresponsible, he said, as it could have put his fellow troops in danger.

It was not an easy decision to make. As a Belarusian fighter-turned-civilian, Tamashevich has no right to work, rent an apartment, or open a bank account in Ukraine.

According to the current Ukrainian law, foreign fighters with no residence permit have seven days to leave Ukraine after they break their army contract.

Several Belarusians have joined the war against Russia, in the hope that President Vladimir Putin’s fall would also bring down his main ally – Belarus’s President Alexandr Lukashenko.

Returning home would mean imprisonment.

There is a glimmer of hope for Tamashevich, though.

The Ukrainian Parliament has passed in a first reading a new bill which would allow Belarusian and pro-Ukraine Russian fighters to apply for Ukrainian passports as long as they give up their first citizenship. They would receive residence permits, but is unclear when the new rules may come into force.

Tamashevich arrived in Ukraine in 2021, after Belarus launched a case against him for taking part in mass protests a year earlier against alleged electoral fraud committed by Lukashenko.

To stay in Ukraine, he applied for asylum eight months ago. But he is still waiting for a decision.

“The fact that I fought in the Ukrainian army does not matter. I spoke to the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] officers who deal directly with Belarusians but these are completely separate branches of the government,” Tamashevich recently told Al Jazeera, in a cafe in Kyiv. “Trying to influence my case would count as corruption. This is how democracy works.”

But he does not complain. He has managed to save up some money to survive until the asylum decision, and meanwhile focuses on volunteering.