On 28 September 2026, reports said that Alexander Lukashenko had carried out wide-ranging personnel changes, including changes to the leadership of Belarus’s General Staff.
Pavel Muraveyko, the chief of the General Staff, was appointed deputy head of the presidential administration. Vladimir Bely was appointed as the new chief of the General Staff and first deputy minister of defence.
According to the report, Lukashenko said he wanted an “alternative” assessment of developments in the security agencies within his administration and sought to strengthen his personal control over the armed forces. He warned the new chief of the General Staff that the president and his administration would maintain continuous oversight.
A total of 29 appointments were reportedly approved or carried out that day across military, government and regional bodies. The report is available from Zerkalo.
The source interprets Muraveyko’s transfer as evidence of further centralisation of control over Belarus’s security and defence structures. It links this assessment to Lukashenko’s stated desire to know “everything that is happening” in the armed forces and to receive an alternative assessment from within the presidential administration.
The source also argues that the personnel changes reflect a policy increasingly focused on maintaining readiness for possible forceful or military escalation. As supporting evidence, it cites Lukashenko’s instruction to ensure that the army is prepared for the “most serious clashes”, as well as his warning that the president and his administration would increase their oversight of the new chief of the General Staff and the state of affairs under his responsibility.
The available material presents these interpretations as assessments of the personnel changes; it does not independently establish that Belarus is preparing for war with European Union countries.
