Kislyak: Struggle Against Construction Of Plant Near Brest Reached New Level

The initiative group against the battery plant construction received a cynical response from the authorities.

The initiative group against the construction of the iPower battery factory in Brest has received from Lukashenka’s administration a response to its appeal sent at the end of February, the Brest newspaper writes.

The Council of Ministers has established a government commission, its work is coordinated by the Ministry of Nature and Environmental Protection.

Its head, Minister Andrei Khudyk, said that the state administration "will do everything" so that there were no "violations of the law" in the battery plant construction and operation. As for the questions raised by the activists, human rights activist Raman Kisliak says that the commission has simply summarized the replies that the initiative group received earlier.

"The answer is cynical! Briefly, its essence is as follows: go away with your problem, everything is fine there. In fact, the government commission, led by the Ministry of Nature, ignored the opinion of the Brest region residents. It took the side of this unscrupulous business and local authorities, who had previously given the same answers, or more precisely – formal replies," – the human rights activist comments.

Nevertheless, the struggle against the plant construction continues. According to Kisliak, after this answer it moved to a new level.

"This response will be appealed against to Lukashenka. We will definitely point out that the government commission has taken the side of local officials. And this will not be an appeal, not a statement, but a complaint that Lukashenka’s administration will have to consider. If it does not satisfy our complaints, then these and a number of other issues we will raised at the international level," – the human rights activist concluds.

On April 6, the collection of signatures against the plant construction was resumed in Brest. The collected signatures, together with almost 38 thousand signatures collected earlier, will be attached to the complaint.

We remind that at the beginning of the year, an active campaign against the construction of the iPower battery factory near the regional center was launched in Brest and the region. The most active opponents of the plant joined the initiative group, which claims numerous violations at various stages of the battery plant construction. In less than two months, almost 38 thousand signatures of Brest residents were collected, which were sent together with the appeal to the dictator’s administration.

Since March, every Sunday, the plant's opponents have been coming to feed the pigeons at Lenin Square in Brest in order to draw the attention of the authorities and the public to the situation around the plant.