The political repression within the walls of the country's leading university - Belarusian State University (BSU) - which has been going on for several years, provoked an attack by Cyberpartisans on its internal network. More than 3 terabytes of data have come into our possession: documents, correspondence, and audio recordings that shed light on the real situation at the university.
The first part of the investigation, in which we revealed the background of repression in BSU and published real statistics of dismissals and expulsions for political reasons, is shown here. Now we will clearly show on the example of the Belarusian State University what the system of higher education in Belarus has turned into under dictator Lukashenko, as well as reveal some secrets of the university management, which have been carefully hidden so far.
Rector Korol: surveillance and repression at BSU
Total surveillance of students and teachers by special services, constant intrigues and manipulations have become the norm in the BSU leadership, de facto appointed by Lukashenko's administration not for personal or academic merit, but on the principle of loyalty to the system. Thus, since 2017 Andrei Korol has been rector of BSU.
After the rigged 2020 elections, the BSU rector openly demonstrated his commitment to the dictatorship. In September of that year, Andrey Korol issued an official statement in which he promised that there would be no dismissals and expulsions for political reasons at the Belarusian State University. However, since then hundreds of teachers and students have left the university because of repressions.
Three-room Apartment In Minsk For Political Purges In the University
Andrey Korol, who felt he had shown enough loyalty to the regime, decided to ask for preferential treatment. So in 2021, he applied for the construction of a three-room flat in the neighbourhood of Lositsa-7. But he received a refusal. In an official letter, the deputy head of the Central District Administration explains that a three-room flat is not provided for a family of two people, given the shortage of housing construction in Minsk.
Nevertheless, this does not stop Korol, and to get the desired "three-room apartment" in a new house, he uses his connections. He appeals also to the then Minister of Education Igor Karpenko to send a letter on his behalf with a request, as they say, "to the very top". Here is one of the versions of this letter addressed to Alexander Lukashenko, in which the Korol cites political purges at the university among his achievements.
BSU has a consistent personnel policy. It is aimed at employing only persons who fully share the ideology of the Belarusian state. The educational influence of the legal nature on the collective of students is carried out. 96 students who organised and participated in protest actions and events were expelled. Disciplinary penalties were imposed on 166 students, and 288 explanatory notes were taken.
Rector's Mistresses And Admirers
One can only guess why the rector of pre-retirement age without children needed a three-room flat in Minsk so badly. Especially, since the relationship with his wife leaves much to be desired. Judging by the correspondence in Viber, the rector had at least 7 admirers and mistresses in the last 4 years. Their names and photos are presented below.
Some of Andrei Korol's mistresses are graduates or former employees of BSU. For some of them the relationship at the workplace happened at the same time. The women did not know about each other, but some of them complained about the rector's lack of attention and time for them.
Andrei Korol has the closest relationship with former BSU graduate Ekaterina Bushmanova, who graduated from the university in 2018 with a degree in Modern Foreign Languages (teaching).
Ekaterina is married to Ukrainian citizen Viktor Bushmanov and is a mother of triplets. She is also well acquainted with the Korol's wife. Their families even periodically spend time together.
Which does not prevent the couple from cheating on their spouses far from the first year.
Secret correspondence lovers conduct in a joint document through the service Dropbox. Below are fragments of this correspondence.
In correspondence with mistresses and admirers, Korol often touches on the topic of politics. He chooses like-minded women who also support Russia's war in Ukraine. Below is a fragment of correspondence with Ekaterina Patrinina, who lives in Russia. Korol periodically sees her during his trips to Russia.
We felt it our duty to dwell on these personal topics, as they partly reveal the duplicitous and deceitful character of Andrey Korol. He not only deceives his wife but also hides his mistresses from each other. Although some even introduce each other, for example, Ekaterina Patrinina once at the request of the Korol helped Ekaterina Bushmanova to get to an elite Moscow clinic, when she had serious complications with her kidneys in the period before childbirth.
We consider it our duty to reveal the BSU rector's personal secrets, because after our attack on the university's internal network in the summer of 2023, political repressions within the university continued. The rector did not draw the proper conclusions, and continued to personally participate in political purges.
It is also a clear warning for other managers and officials of the regime facilities who support the dictatorship. You think it's easy to write off our break-in as an "inside job" and get away with it? Continue breaking people's lives as if nothing had happened? Don't get your hopes up.
Cyber partisans are not only about hacking and cyberattacks. We also do intelligence and data analytics. We know what you talk about with your lovers and spouses, how you spend your free time, how you berate your coworkers and superiors, how you try to cheat for personal gain for the regime you serve. And if you commit crimes against the Belarusan people, don't expect your secrets to remain secrets.
Sabotage of questionnaires from Lukashenko's administration at BSU
Andrey Korol not only asks for preferential treatment from his superiors allegedly for ideologically faithful service but also does not miss a chance to deceive the system he works for if it is profitable for him.
The story with the questionnaire launched on the initiative of Lukashenka's administration is so indicative. In July 2023, the BSU rector received an order to conduct a survey among the teachers of the university, including the assessment of his work. However, Andrey Korol was not satisfied with the survey questions and perceived it as an attempt to provide grounds for his dismissal, which was already actively rumoured in the university environment at that time.
On one of the computers on the BSU intranet, we found saved audio recordings that were probably left on the voicemail of one of the employees and saved to compromise colleagues. The collection of dozens of audio recordings sheds much light on the "inner kitchen" of university management. Thanks to these recordings, in the video part of the investigation we revealed in detail how Andrey Korol decided to sabotage the questionnaire and conduct the survey only among the teachers who support him.
Thus, Lukashenko's administration got only those results that were convenient for the rector of the university. When vote rigging is the norm for officials in the country, such a situation is not surprising. Andrey Korol is just acting according to the proven scheme of the regime, which he supports.
“Purges” Among Their Own
BSU rector sent the results of the survey to Lukashenko's administration, according to which more than 78% of teachers are satisfied with the relationship with the university administration, while more than 90% of employees are satisfied with the moral and psychological climate.
However, in the video part of the investigation, we published audio recordings, which shed light on a completely different situation at the university, including among the supporters of the dictator.
Thus, Anna Bakun - vice-rector for educational work and social issues - shared her complaints about disrespect to her and negligent, in her opinion, attitude to work issues among her colleagues.
We have also published an audio recording, in which she tells how the Lukashenko administration decided to get rid of her at BSU by an unspoken order and to do it in the same way as she does with students - through pressure and manipulation.
Since 2020 Anna Bakun has been actively involved in political repression against BSU students. Among other things, she took part in the so-called "councils on prevention of offences", where students were intimidated from leaving the BRSM and participating in protests. However, 3 years later these "merits" have already been forgotten, and Lukashenka's administration decided to get rid of Bakun.
Rector Andrey Korol plans to fire the deputy head of the department for educational work Yegor Podoliak, who publicly supports the dictatorial regime, so he can't be easily dismissed for political reasons, according to the same principle. We published an audio recording, where the BSU rector himself talks about his idea, in the video part of the investigation. On it, Korol shares how he plans to give Podolyak a task he can't cope with so that there would be a reason for dismissal.
We have also published recordings in which the BSU rector speaks unflatteringly about Yevgeny Haruka — head of the department of expert and analytical work, who previously spied for him on students and teachers, including in protest groups, and then asked for a raise and thought about changing jobs.
Andrei Korol calls Haruk a "scoundrel", " a louse", "bastard", "and scatty", and shares plans that he is going to publicly discredit him in front of the leaders of BISR (Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies) so that he would not be hired in the new structure. In addition, he accuses his subordinate of possibly leaking information about the BSU problem areas to Lukashenka's administration.
By the way, in December 2023, the BSU received a request from Lukashenko's administration to dismiss Yevgeny Haruk so that he could take the position of the head of the department of internal political analysis at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (abbreviated as BISR).
However, in order to make sure that the employee would not be hired by the state structures, the rector made sure to have a bad characteristic against Haruk.
In the video part of the investigation, we also published other recordings, where Andrei Korol:
says that he intends to collect dirt on the dean of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Sergei Bosyakov, who participated in political repression at BSU, so he can't be simply dismissed on policy grounds.
tries to organise surveillance of deans after hours with the help of special services.
openly insults other BSU employees.
The rector is not shy about his colleagues: "asshole," "slut," "louse" are just a few examples of the characterizations he applies to people who work with him.
In addition, we also provided an audio recording in which the KGB officer Yaroslav Cherkassky (who holds the position of vice-rector for security and personnel at BSU), tells how the Minister of Education apologised to his KGB supervisor for allowing Pavel Bychkovsky, the chief specialist for scientific and scientific-innovation activities of the enterprise "Unitekhprom BSU", into the expert council.
At the same time, new appointments at the university to replace dismissed or resigned staff sometimes cause at least some confusion. In February 2023, for example, Alexei Belyaev was appointed dean of the journalism faculty by order of the rector.
But just a few days later, an official complaint was sent to Andrei Korol from the faculty, stating that the new employee has nothing to do with journalism, either by education or labour activity. The authors of the complaint allege that Belyaev embezzled other people's work to obtain a position.
By the way, Alexei Belyaev is still the dean of the Faculty of Journalism. The BSU administration did not pay attention to the collective complaints of the teachers. It doesn't matter that Belyaev has appropriated other people's works, but he writes a column in the ideologically correct newspaper "Sovetskaya Belorussia" and is a member of the pro-governmental party "Belaya Rus".
With such a norm of relations in the team, it is not surprising that in 2023 there were reasonable rumours that Andrey Korol will be removed from the post of BSU rector. He suspected the current Minister of Education Andrei Ivants of this initiative, which he did not fail to complain about in messages via Vyber to Natalia Kochanova.
Let's Summarize
The situation with mass political dismissals and behind-the-scenes intrigues that have developed at the Belarusian State University is, unfortunately, just an example of what the whole education system has become under dictator Lukashenko. When educational institutions are turned into regime facilities with constant surveillance, denunciations to the KGB and authorities, and mass political dismissals.
The Сyberpartisans felt it was their duty to show the true face of this system and make its secrets public. After we attacked the BSU internal network and the publication of some data from there in July 2023, the university administration issued a denial, citing a sudden technical failure. The unfortunate idea belongs to the head of the BSU Information Technology Centre, Viktor Kochin. The same stance will likely be taken by the university administration with regard to the current investigations.
Publishing personal information and secret machinations of the BSU management was a consequence of the fact that instead of educational and scientific activities the university continues to engage in political purges. We remind you that any structure, enterprise or organisation that commits crimes against the Belarusian people in support of dictator Lukashenko becomes a legitimate target for Cyberpartisan attacks.
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