Secret Services to Check Belarusian NPP’s Staff

In the last day of the year 2016, Lukashenka signed Decree #515.

The Decree normalizes the order of involvement of employees for construction and exploitation of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (Belarusian NPP). In particular, it provides for the obligatory checking of personnel who work at the NPP construction now, or will work there after the start, by the secret services, tut.by reports.

The document establishes that the state security services of Belarus conduct checking measures with regard to foreign employees, as well as foreign citizens who contend for the job positions, and workers of the contractor entities, which participate in the Belarusian NPP construction), “for revealing the information relating to the possible causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus by the mentioned persons.”

The checking measures are taken upon the written consent of the personnel. However, the secret services give different reaction to the refusal from such actions from the side of foreigners or contractors.

“The refusal of a foreign employee or a contender for a job to go through the checking measures, or revealing the information about the possibility of causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus by the mentioned persons, as a result of the checking measures, can be considered grounds to decline the contender’s application for the job, or the dismissal of a foreign employee from the job position,” – stated in the Decree.

The refusal of an employee of a contractor organization leads to the denial of the secret services “to rubberstamp the admission of this employee to the construction site of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant and to the performing of works (rendering services) during the guarantee term of the exploitation of the said power plant.”

The contractors are obliged to provide the state enterprise “Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant” the information about the employees, which would be considered necessary for conducting the checking measures with regard to them.

The document also states that foreign contractor organizations cannot be subjected to responsibility under the legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus, for the involvement of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship who have no permit for permanent residence in Belarus, in conducting labour activity, connected with fulfillment of construction and other works on building the Belarusian NPP, in the period since July 15, 2016 up to the moment of this decree’s coming into force.