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Opposition youths to campaign against Russia’s involvement in construction of Belarusian nuclear power plant

Young members of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) are gearing up for a campaign against Russia’s involvement in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus, BelaPAN reports.

The youths plan to distribute t-shirts, badges, stickers, kerchiefs and other items carrying the campaign logo.

According to the BPF press office, Anton Kalinowski, an organizer of the campaign, expressed certainty that it would be backed both by opposition-minded youths and political youth groups.

The campaigners also plan to collect signatures to a petition urging the Belarusian government to award the contract to build the country’s first-ever nuclear power plant to a company based in a country other than Russia and hold public debates on the matter.

“The campaign for the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant without Russian reactors is aimed at sounding an alarm over the fact that Russia will build the Belarusian station. And this is fraught with our even heavier energy dependence on Russia and the risk of another Chernobyl-like accident,” the press office quoted BPF member Franak Vyachorka as saying.

“The Belarusian nuclear power plant must be built by those capable of doing this – France, Sweden, Japan – but not Russia,” he stressed.