Ihar Shunevich Dismissed

Lukashenka has accepted the report on the dismissal of the ex-head of the Interior.

Ihar Shunevich has been dismissed of his post as Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus. This decision was made today by Lukashenka, sources reported to tut.by.

Ihar Shunevich headed the MIA for seven years. Only Uladzimir Navumau occupied this post for a longer term, he had been the minister for nine years.

Lukashenka accepted the report on the resignation of Interior Minister Ihar Shunevich, with which the latter addressed the ruler during a working meeting today, BelTA informs.

“I offered my resignation to the head of state at the today's meeting, and it was accepted,” Ihar Shunevich told reporters after the meeting with the president.

The minister stressed that the decision to resign was “a balanced, right and timely one”. “A lot of difficult work was done at the ministry. A lot of work. At a certain moment I started to realize that it is necessary to ensure the continuity, dynamics, speed and efficiency of decision-making. It is rather difficult to keep up at times,” he said in order to explain the reasons for this decision. “First of all, a fresh look at the ministry's work is needed. Secondly, as far as my efficiency is concerned, I believe that time has come to switch a career. I have been minister for a rather long time. I may start to lose touch. Maybe, I just need to try something new. This is the only motivation, I told the head of state about it. He accepted it.”

Speaking about a possible new job, Igor Shunevich remarked that he had not had any concrete proposals yet. However, he believes he can be of use for the state at a different job. “Life goes on. I want and can work. I do not see anything extraordinary in this situation. Everything moves in a spiral. I'm not going to sit at home. I want to be of use for the state at any job,” he said.

Today, during a working meeting with Interior Minister Ihar Shunevich, Aliaksandr Lukashenka had questions about the work of the ministry in terms of preparation for the II European Games.

“It makes me worry that sometimes we take too many precautions and go overboard while creating some sort of “concentration camps” or “ghetto” in Belarus. I saw blocks installed along carriageways today. It seems you are preparing to build metal fences around fan zones. What for?” the ruler said.

In the recent months, Lukashenka has raised the issue of the work of the Ministry of Interior several times. In February, the ruler warned Shunevich that in the near future he would seriously analyze the work of the law-enforcement agencies.

On March 28, personnel replacements were made in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: the heads of the Minsk and Vitsebsk police were changed. At the same time, Lukashenka said that he could not evaluate the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “even at 8, by stretching a point.” And he recalled that he instructed Ihar Shunevich to follow the restoration of order at the farms, first of all this referred to engine yards, the maintenance of machinery.

“And if my order to the minister had been fulfilled, then this mess, which we saw in one of the engine yards on the second day of my trip to the Mahiliou region, would have not existed. There was not a single unit alive, they turned it into a cemetery,” the governor noted.

Ihar Shunevich was born on March 27, 1967 in Ukraine (Luhansk region). In 1992 he graduated from the Police Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus. He served in various positions in the system of internal affairs of Belarus. In 2007–2012, he worked in the KGB of Belarus, where he headed the investigation department, then the main department for counterintelligence support of law enforcement and audit bodies, fight against corruption and organized crime.

In January 2012, he was appointed First Deputy Minister of the Interior of Belarus - Head of the Criminal Police. On May 11, 2012 he was appointed Minister of the Interior.

Ihar Shunevich as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be remembered for his notorious statements and remarks; on behalf of the ministry, ambiguous comments also sounded on various topics, including those not directly related to the work of the office.