Photo from Pavlo Sharoiko's Facebook

"In particular, directly on the day of his detention Sharoiko met with an employee of the propaganda channel NTV (Russian Federation) at the request of the latter," IR wrote, referring to its own sources. "He tried to give Pavlo allegedly secret documents about the use of the territory of the Republic of Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine."

According to IR, the NTV employee claimed that the documents are from the Russian General Staff, but even a "quick analysis shows that they are related solely to the Belarusian Armed Forces." "These documents show a general strengthening of military 'cooperation' with the Russian Federation; including plans to redeploy the Russian missile brigade and the EW [Electronic Warfare] battalion of the RF to Belarus in 2018," IR wrote.

IR says Sharoiko refused to take those documents, realizing it was a provocation. "On the way from this meeting, he was detained by the KGB officers. Taking into account the participation of the employee of the Russian propaganda tool in the event, it is necessary to understand that in the case of the provocation with Sharoiko, it is not an 'independent' operation by the KGB of Belarus, but a joint operation of the Belarusian and Russian special services."

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Analysts of the IR group are already finishing the study of the contents of the documents, and their findings will be published later.

Read alsoUkraine's Deputy PM: Belarus' friendship assurances hypocritical amid arrests of Ukrainians "But the following is already clear. If the documents are genuine, it becomes extremely clear that under the cover of stories about a 'friendly attitude towards Ukraine,' [President of Belarus Alexander] Lukashenko is preparing the future of the full enclave of Russia for Belarus in reality with all the negative consequences for Ukraine," IR said.

Yet, "if the documents are rigged, and the Russian special services used 'in dark' the KGB of Belarus in an act of provocation against Sharoiko, Lukashenko should immediately release the Ukrainian journalist and apologize to Ukraine, and at the same time finally decide if he is the president of a sovereign state that has the right to self-determination and an independent domestic and foreign policy, including good-neighborly relations with Ukraine or is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's minion."

As UNIAN reported, it became known on November 17 that Ukrainian correspondent of UA: Ukrainian Radio, former UNIAN reporter in Minsk, citizen of Ukraine Pavlo Sharoiko was detained in the city of Minsk on October 25.