Brest Communal Workers Punished For St. George Ribbons And Russian Federation Flags On Cars

The police took a decision, which the local activists didn’t expect.

They punished the drivers and thanked for the active civil position – Brest journalist Aliaksandr Liauchuk complained about the St. George ribbon and the Russian flag on the communal service cars, Belsat informs.

Unexpectedly for Liauchuk himself, the police did not ignore his statements, and even sent him a confirmation letter: the drivers had been brought to administrative responsibility for the use of unregistered symbols.

"This ribbon became a symbol of the war in Ukraine, when I see the Russian flag on the car, I feel danger, because this is the way it all started in Abkhazia, so the only way to get rid of it is to have an active civil position," – Aliaksandr Liauchuk explains his point of view.

St. George's ribbon first appeared on the Russian Empire’s awards before the First World War, in the Soviet Union it was used as an element of the award for the victory over Germany. But it also became a symbol of the war in Donbas – this year, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted a law, according to which one can get a fine for wearing the ribbon or demonstrating it, and 15 days of arrest – for a repeated violation.

The use of St. George's ribbon is also undesirable in Lithuania and Georgia. Over the years, on Victory Day, in Belarus it has been carefully replaced by a red-green one with an apple tree flower in the middle.

"Today it is not too late to say that St. George's ribbon is unacceptable on the territory of Belarus, we live in an independent state, and we offer new symbols, for example, the ones symbolizing the courage and heroism of the Belarusian people already in the present," – historian Ihar Kuzniatsou says.

In his opinion, the civil society itself should propose a new, Belarusian ribbon – if it does not want the state or a neighboring country to take over this matter.