Aleksandr Lukashenko makes new appointments

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko made personnel decisions on 2 February.

The head of state appointed:

Andrei Sambuk Deputy Chairman of the State Control Committee of Belarus - Director of the Financial Investigations Department;

Valery Mitskevich Head of the Secretariat of the Belarusian People’s Congress.

“I have invited you here today to discuss, firstly, the overall functioning and the activities of our two most important law enforcement agencies. I am talking about the State Security and Financial Intelligence Committee, as we used to call it. It was transferred to the State Control Committee. We have enough issues to address. We will talk about them,” the head of state said when appointing Andrei Sambuk.

Another issue which needs to be addressed is the personnel one, keeping in mind the post for head of the Financial Investigations Department.

“We need to make the operation of the Financial Investigations Department more systemic, as it has been the case with the State Security Committee [KGB]. I think you, Andrei Vasilyevich [Sambuk], will do a good job as the head of the department. Konstantin Fedorovich [Bychek, Deputy Head of the KGB Investigative Department], since he is still very young, will work in the State Security Committee,” the President said.

“There is a new generation. I always talk about it. You will still have to work hard, go up the career ladder. Don't forget about it,” the Belarusian leader added.

Konstantin Bychek has been appointed Head of the KGB Investigative Department.

When appointing Valery Mitskevich, the head of state said: “There are two aspects of the matter. The first one is more important: I would not like to lose professionals from our parliament. And certainly, I believe that you are one of those people, one of those highly professional, experienced people, who have gone through many stages as a lawyer. And who has accomplished a lot. And feedback from people in this regard is great.”

“Secondly, we need all the experienced people to avoid errors in this complicated period. You may feel it yourself that some remodeling, restructuring of the government system is in progress due to the Belarusian People’s Congress getting constitutional powers. And, certainly, due to the Belarusian People’s Congress acquiring certain serious constitutional powers we would not like to create some chaos in the government for the next couple of years. Maybe three years. Because you know that chaos in the government will immediately spread to the society,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President suggested that Valery Mitskevich should head the Secretariat of the Belarusian People’s Congress: “If, of course, you agree (I have not consulted with anyone), I thought at this stage in the capacity of the head of the Belarusian People’s Congress staff (it is and it will be called the Secretariat) you could make a decent contribution to the development of the situation here on top. If we talk absolutely sincerely.”

The head of state warned that a lot of work will have to be done: it is necessary to organize the first session of the Belarusian People’s Congress and work out the procedures. “It is necessary to do everything we have to do during the first session. Certain very serious personnel matters need to be addressed as well. And I have received a draft Presidential decree concerning the Secretariat: the authority, functions, and the rest, the personnel [composition]. I have not signed it yet,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “As an experienced man you have to select the appropriate personnel and take a serious look. You may submit some proposals. I think a week is sufficient for submitting them. And we will see how things pan out later on. You have a lot of experience not only in staff management. You are a judge. Your roots go into the judge system.”

“Yes, I started out [as a judge],” Valery Mitskevich confirmed.

“People always remember their origins. This is why later on we will determine how we will proceed. But for now if you don’t mind, I would still suggest that you should head and form the Secretariat of the Belarusian People’s Congress at this stage. And you should get down to preparing [the first session of] the Belarusian People’s Congress. The organizing committee has been set up. It is headed by the prime minister. Let him head it since he is the government. But whatever position he may occupy, you will have to manage and address all these matters,” the head of state concluded.