In Mahiliou the KGB searched people who had traveled to the EU. They checked smartphones and asked about the democratic movement -

In Mahiliou, KGB officers came with searches to people who had recently traveled to EU countries. They checked phones and asked about contacts with representatives of the democratic forces, according to the Mahiliou team of the Viasna Human Rights Centre — MAYDAY TEAM. Rights defenders reported no detentions from these visits. Dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime again shows: the border is not freedom — it is a filter of fear.

What is known

According to MAYDAY, over the last two weeks of August several cases were recorded in which KGB officers came to Mahiliou residents with searches and questions. The focus was people who had recently been in EU countries. Officers asked whether they had contacts with representatives of the democratic movement.

“In addition, the KGB agents were interested in electronic devices, primarily the smartphones of Mahiliou residents, which were searched in their presence,” rights defenders note. The phone was not quietly taken “for examination” — it was checked on the spot, in front of the owner: pressure plus a show that private life sits in the palm of a hand.

There is no information about detentions. The same account was reported by Zerkalo, Belsat and CityDog.

Why the regime does this

Officially — “counterintelligence” and a hunt for links to the opposition abroad. In practice — criminalising ordinary travel. Since 2020 any trip to the EU looks suspicious to Lukashenka’s security services: a meeting with the diaspora, a donation, a chat, a protest photo. The smartphone is the main trophy: messages, messengers, traces of a VPN.

Later the State Security Committee tried to wash its hands in public statements: a visa or an EU trip alone is supposedly “not grounds” for interest. Mahiliou’s visits say otherwise: a list of “recent travelers” is already a reason to knock. Fear works without a colony — a search and a phone check are enough.

What it means

Several documented cases are a lower bound. Many never write to rights defenders. But the regional signal is clear: back from Poland, Lithuania, Germany — you may get guests in plain clothes. While democratic forces are abroad, the KGB hunts for “contacts” inside. While people travel to family and work, their phones become evidence. This is not national security. It is control over the fear of leaving — and of coming home.