Deception in Belarus Partisan Operations

On March 25th the Belarus railway system was sabotaged (again) as part of the ongoing campaign by partisans to hamper Putins war effort. These attacks have been ongoing since at least earlier this year, when the Cyber Partisans (BCP) hacked the railway’s network and began trashing it. First in a ransomware attack, and then in subsequent attacks by wiping critical hardware.

The attack on the 25th was not cyber, but physical. It was conducted by one of the partisan groups operating inside Belarus. What is particularly interesting about this action is that they used deception to send opposition security forces to the wrong location, clearing the way for a safer operation.

Details of the deception operation where posted in a Telegram chat, along with some pictures to illustrate the event.

Let’s reveal some details of today’s night “accident”.

Last night, the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus had information about the upcoming “sabotage” at the Roshcha stop (Minsk-Sortirovochny – Pomysishche) stop.

As a result, forces were thrown there to protect the area.

But at this time, the guerillas were preparing to conduct a sabotage operation between the Berezina and Nemanitsa stops on the Novosady-Borisov stage, which was successfully carried out in the end.

(The photos are illustrative in nature, they were taken in winter).

The original Telegram post about this action is available here.

Safe operations are an important part of operational security. Clandestine resistance forces must balance security against action. Too much action and security suffers, leading to capture and no more actions. Too much security leads to paralysis, and no more actions. Deception can be a very effective solution.

Partisans Punk Police

The level of sophistication in arranging a deception operation, even one as simple as this, shows the professionalism of the partisan forces. They are thinking about not just how to conduct operations to maximum strategic effect, but how to ensure that operations are safe.

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