Bonum Certa Men Certa

From Belarus With Love — Part X: From “High-Tech Hub” to “No-Go Zone”



Series parts:

  1. From Belarus With Love — Part I: Schizophrenic EPO Policy
  2. From Belarus With Love — Part II: “Techwashing” an Autocratic Regime?
  3. From Belarus With Love — Part III: Apps From the Dictatorship
  4. From Belarus With Love — Part IV: “Software from Minsk” via Gilching and Rijswijk
  5. From Belarus With Love — Part V: From Start-Up to Success Story...
  6. From Belarus With Love — Part VI: “Big Daddy” Hammers the Opposition...
  7. From Belarus With Love — Part VII: The Post-Election Crackdown
  8. From Belarus With Love — Part VIII: “Seoul in the Centre of Pyongyang”
  9. From Belarus With Love — Part IX: The End of “Peaceful Coexistence”?
  10. YOU ARE HERE ☞ From “High-Tech Hub” to “No-Go Zone”


Belarus High Technologies Park in Minsk at night
Belarus High Technologies Park in Minsk: Will the last person leaving please switch off the lights?



Summary: The EPO's partners in Minsk, unlike several (even many) other companies from the same 'science park', are no foes of the autocratic regime that EPO President António Campinos pretends to oppose

In the last part we saw how the Belarus IT sector came to play a significant role in the events surrounding the disputed Presidential election of 2020.



Not surprisingly, many of those targeted during the post-election crackdown were people involved in the IT sector. As a matter of fact, the wave of repression unleashed by Lukashenko was widely perceived as a grave threat to the country‘s relatively recent reputation as a high-tech hub.

"It seemed that the high-tech sector which was supposed to lead the country into the future would be the first and most prominent victim of Lukashenko’s desperate attempt to cling on to power."By the end of August 2020, the news outlet devby.io, was reporting that 12 Belarusian IT companies were already in the process of relocating their entire operations to another country; some 59 companies had moved part of their staff out of Belarus, and another 112 companies had started looking at options to relocate.

From exile in the Ukraine, Valery Tsepkalo, the founder of the Belarus High Technologies Park, gave an ominous prediction for the future of the industry: “If the current state of affairs persists, there will be no trust on the parts of the customers and investors.”

In a similar vein, external observers predicted that Belarus was about to turn from "an oasis of opportunities" for foreign investors into "a no-go zone too dangerous to invest in". It seemed that the high-tech sector which was supposed to lead the country into the future would be the first and most prominent victim of Lukashenko’s desperate attempt to cling on to power.

By October 2020, various media channels were reporting on "an exodus of workers from Belarus’ flourishing IT sector". Many tech companies started to transfer employees abroad or sought to relocate completely, saying that the post-election crackdown made employees feel unsafe and that Internet blackouts by the authorities disrupted business.

Meanwhile, neighbouring countries in the region - from the Baltics to Ukraine - were keen to roll out the welcome mat and did their best to encourage companies to relocate with fast-track immigration procedures, tax breaks and assistance with finding office space.

"...official statements like this steered clear of the elephant in the room, namely the risk that IT companies which chose to remain in Belarus would be subjected to increased political "oversight" by the regime."According to Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation, some 2,000 IT workers moved from Belarus to Ukraine during the period between August and October 2020. In April 2021, it was reported that in Poland a government-sponsored program to assist relocating IT specialists had led to 790 Belarusians obtaining visas.

In response to questions from foreign media, the official Belarus response was to play down the impact of this exodus. According to an official statement issued by the HTP in October 2020: “High-Tech Park has held a thorough analysis of the real situation, including consultations with CEOs and key investors. It is clear that most IT-related businessmen are willing to keep working in Belarus as before."

However, official statements like this steered clear of the elephant in the room, namely the risk that IT companies which chose to remain in Belarus would be subjected to increased political "oversight" by the regime.

It's worth recalling that back in December 2017 when he was issuing the decree "On the Development of Digital Economy" Lukashenko warned the entrepreneurs tasked with transforming the Belarusian economy that if something good comes out - that’s a plus, if it’s a minus - I know who to hold accountable.

Autocrat Lukashenko
The relationship between the autocrat Lukashenko and "his" hi-tech incubator in Minsk seems to have become rather strained following the events of 2020: “I nurtured these tech companies and supported self-employed entrepreneurship. What made them take to the streets?”



The events of 2020 have evidently prompted Lukashenko to reconsider the government's laissez-faire approach to the IT sector. In his annual "Address to Belarusian People and the National Assembly" delivered on 28 January of this year, he complained about a perceived lack of gratitude on the part of the HTP's residents:

“IT people, self-employed entrepreneurs... I still don't know what to do with them. How could it end up this way? I nurtured these tech companies and supported self-employed entrepreneurship. What made them take to the streets?”


Lukashenko attempted to depict the HTP as a hotbed of intrigue which had been infiltrated by subversive foreign influence: “I created and fostered this park, appointed my aides there. Today, this HTP is a branch of large enterprises from the United States and other countries. I mean Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants that have their operations here.” According to Lukashenko, these arrangements allowed foreign secret services to hold sway over people working in the HTP. He claimed that, after providing financial resources on a legal basis, these foreign agencies then "gave the command to overthrow and destroy."

"The implications of these developments for the long-term future of the HTP remain uncertain but one thing is clear: the long era of "peaceful coexistence" between the Belarus IT sector and the Lukashenko regime has come to an end."Lukashenko admitted that the HTP had provided a strong impetus to the development of the Belarus IT sector. However, he said that he was beginning to wonder whether the project was doing more good or harm to the country. Amongst other things, he stated that perhaps the time had come to put Belarusian IT specialists working at the HTP on an equal footing with "those who work at enterprises and in organizations of the National Academy of Sciences".

He stressed that he had not yet made any decisions in this regard and had not issued any instructions: "I need time to understand the processes that are taking place in the High Tech Park. We will not act rashly or violate the law."

The implications of these developments for the long-term future of the HTP remain uncertain but one thing is clear: the long era of "peaceful coexistence" between the Belarus IT sector and the Lukashenko regime has come to an end.

"Assuming that Lukashenko remains in power, companies operating out of the HPT in Minsk are likely to be subjected to an increasing degree of political "oversight"."Assuming that Lukashenko remains in power, companies operating out of the HPT in Minsk are likely to be subjected to an increasing degree of political "oversight". In this regard, it is worth noting that a new decree setting up a "state administration agency in the sphere of digital development and informatization" recently entered into force.

Lukashenko has also announced plans to hold a meeting with representatives of the IT-sector in order to review the situation and to discuss reports of a "brain-drain" at the HPT:

"Some IT specialists are leaving the country and their number may be big. We need to look at the matter from the security point of view, how dangerous it is for Belarus. We also need to look into the IT technology, IT parks and IT specialists so as to ensure a level playing field for everyone. The time has come to address these issues."


For the moment nobody is sure what exactly Lukashenko plans to do on this front. But whatever it may be, it is likely to involve more direct political control over the activities of the IT sector.

In any event, his concerns about a "brain-drain" appear to be well-founded.

In October 2021, it was reported that an estimated 20,000 IT specialists had left Belarus since the crackdown of August 2020 and that as many as 58 per cent of all start-up founders had emigrated.

Makism Bogretsov, the former senior vice-president of EPAM who left to join the opposition National Coordination Council, painted the following grim picture of the situation:

"We have spent 20 years building up our reputation, producing white label products and software. Now, [the country’s reputation] is wiped out. There are days with no Internet. You never know when a key person will be arrested.”


Some time earlier in July 2021, the chief executive of a company with nearly 700 employees that had abandoned Belarus agreed to speak to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity. He was quoted follows:

“Pretty much everyone is doing it [i.e. moving operations out of Belarus]. Most Belarusian founders with a brain and a heart don’t support the movement into an absolute dictatorship and what’s happening in Belarus, the terror. Because every week, there’s another atrocity, another move toward, like, North Korea.”


But there is at least one company whose management does not appear to be overly concerned about the political situation in Belarus. That is SaM Solutions, the EPO's preferred outsourcing partner for "Software from Minsk".

"In the remaining parts of the series, the focus will return to SaM and we will examine the ambivalent position of the company's management towards the Lukashenko regime."Although, the company's website boasts of "delivery centers" located in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, SaM's main "delivery center" is still located at 15 Filimonova Street in Minsk.

In the remaining parts of the series, the focus will return to SaM and we will examine the ambivalent position of the company's management towards the Lukashenko regime.

Recent Techrights' Posts

With Workers Back From a Holiday Weekend, Microsoft Layoffs Carry on, More Waves to Come
Now it's Monday and people are bad to work, even some journalists
You Need Not Wave a Rainbow Flag This Month to Basically Oppose Arseholes Looking to Disrupt and Divide the Community
Don't fall for it
What Miguel de Icaza and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
Similar aims, different methods
The 'Corporate Neckbeard' is Not the "Good Guy"
Works for IBM
Microsoft's Nat Friedman Became Unemployed the Same Time the SLAPPs Against Techrights Started Coming From His Friends (Weeks After We Had Exposed Scandals About Him and the Serial Strangler, His Best Friend, Who Got Arrested a Few Days Later)
Nat Friedman is not "Investor, entrepreneur"
Weeding Out Extremism in Our Community
To me it seems like Microsoft Lunduke is rapidly becoming like a "hate preacher" who operates online, breeding an extremist ideology or trying to soften its image
Censorship Versus Fact-Checking and Quality Control
It's not censorship but a matter of quality control
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and TUI Rant
Links for the day
 
Layoffs and Shutdowns at IBM, Not Just Microsoft
Same as Microsoft
The FSF's (Free Software Foundation, Inc.) 2025 Summer Fundraiser Already Past Halfway Line
This is where GNU/Linux actually started
Mozilla Had No Good Reason to Outsource Firefox Development to Microsoft
What does Mozilla plan to do when GitHub shuts down?
Mozilla Firefox Did Not Die, It Got Killed
To me it'll always look like Mozilla got killed by its sponsors, especially Google, which had a conflict of interest as a sponsor
Dalai Lama Succession as Evidence That Determined, Motivated People Can Reach Their Nineties
And we need to quit talking about their death all the time
Dan Neidle, Whom Brett Wilson LLP SLAPPed (on Behalf of Corrupt Rich Tax Evaders), Still Fighting the Good Fight
Neidle fights for the poor people
Wayland Should Start by Dumping Its Very Ugly Logo
Wayland wins the "ugliest logo" award every year
Stop Focusing on Hair Colours, Focus on Corporate Agenda
If someone commits a crime, it does not matter if his or her hair was mostly white or there was no hair or a wig or whatever
Links 07/07/2025: Science, Conflicts, and a Fictional K-pop Group
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: Being a Luddite and Announcement of Gotify
Links for the day
Links 07/07/2025: XBox Effectively 'Dead', DMCA Subpoena Versus Registrar
Links for the day
The Nasty Smear (and Stereotype) of "Neckbeard" or "Greybeard" is Ageism
This is the sort of stuff they might try to volley at critics of Wayland
Why Many of Us Use X Server and Will Continue to Use It For Many Years to Come
Don't make this about politics
Brett Wilson LLP Uses Threats to Demand Changes to Pages or Removal of Pages Without Even Revealing Which Staff Member Does That (Sometimes People From Another Firm!)
This has been in the public for years
Dan Neidle Said "It Really Then Became a Job of Tormenting" Lawyers Like Brett Wilson LLP (Who Threatened Him for Exposing Crimes, Just Like They Threatened My Wife a Few Months Later)
he and his wife decided to take on the evil people and their evil lawyers
Large Language Models (LLMs) Externalise Their Cost to the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
"The forty-sixth Free Software Bulletin is now available online!"
Reinforcing the Allegations Some More, Bryan Lunduke Digs His Own Grave
In his latest episodes he merely repeats his own lies, which I debunked using evidence right from his own mouth
Global Warming and Free Software as a Force of Mitigation
we'll need to think about Software Freedom, not just brands like "Linux"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 06, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 06, 2025
[Video] "Copyleft Isn't a Bug."
"Copyleft isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. GNU GPL forced the world to treat code like a public good."
Being in Social Control Media Means Exposing Oneself to Heckling
Richard Stallman does not (either himself or directly) post to any social control media
Links 06/07/2025: Airlines Perils, Scams, and Breaches
Links for the day
Two Risks to Companies: The Microsoft Culture and the Microsoft Tools
Novell was killed by a form of "social engineering" by Microsoft
It's Hard to Trust People Who Worked - Not Only Those Who Still Work - at Microsoft
Bryan Lunduke is just what people would call an "arsehole of a person"
For the Second Time, Bryan Lunduke From Microsoft is Siccing Racist Trolls and Vandals at Me
You're only reinforcing the point we made yesterday
Links 06/07/2025: End to End Encryption at Risk, Reuters Twitter ("X") Account Withheld in India
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
Links for the day
Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
Links for the day
PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
let's just be patient
Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
IBM is Not Your Master
IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news