‘Cyberpartisans’ hack Belarusian railway to disrupt Russian buildup

Cyber-activists opposed to the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, say they have penetrated the state-run railway's computer system and threatened to paralyse trains moving Russian troops and artillery to the country for a potential attack on Ukraine.

Their goals include freeing political prisoners, removing Russian soldiers from Belarus and preventing Belarusians from "dying for this meaningless war", a person involved in the attack told the Guardian.

A member of the "Cyberpartisans" said the hacktivist group had so far encrypted or destroyed internal databases that the Belarusian railways use to control traffic, customs and stations, an action that could cause delays to commercial and non-commercial trains and "indirectly affect Russia troops movement".

They had so far avoided taking more drastic steps to paralyse trains by downing the signalling and emergency control systems, but said they "might do that in the future if we're confident innocent people won't get injured as a result".

The group has demanded that Belarus cease serving as a staging ground for a buildup of Russian troops and military weaponry, some of it just miles from the Ukrainian border.

"We don't want Russian soldiers in Belarus since it compromises the sovereignty of the country and puts it in danger of occupation," the member of the Cyberpartisans told the Guardian. "It also pulls Belarus into a war with Ukraine. And probably Belarusian soldiers would have to participate in it and die for this meaningless war."

An unverified local report had said that the buildup may include nearly 200 trains with Russian troops and equipment (military exercises in 2021 involved just 29 trains), although the Cyberpartisans said they had not sought or found confirmation of that number in the hacked databases yet.