Belarusian Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakou commented on a dispute between a foreign taxi driver and a passenger in Minsk, urging officials to assess each case individually and avoid drawing premature conclusions.
Speaking at a meeting of the board of the Hrodna Region Department of Internal Affairs, Kubrakou said police continue to monitor compliance with the law by foreign nationals, including labour migrants, but stressed that all circumstances should be taken into account when reviewing such incidents.
As an example, he referred to a high-profile incident that spread across social media. According to the minister, the taxi driver is a foreign student at one of Belarusian universities who works part-time while studying.
“Yesterday, information appeared online in which a young woman, wiping away tears, says that she and her friend were riding in a taxi and asked the driver, who is a foreign national, to turn the music down. In response, he slapped her across the face. The Minsk City Police Department responded immediately. We identified the individual. He is indeed a foreign national who came to our country and is a student at one of our universities. He is a young man who wants to study, wants to earn some money and, naturally, works part-time as a taxi driver,” he said.
After identifying the driver, police launched an investigation. According to Kubrakou, the passengers filmed the driver on their phones throughout the journey despite his repeated requests to stop recording. The interior minister said the man struck the passenger with his hand while trying to knock the phone away.
“We began looking into the matter. The young man immediately expressed remorse. He says the woman immediately introduced herself as a blogger. Instead of calling the police by dialling 102 — young people nowadays like to do everything through the internet — or reporting it through our ‘We Are Always Nearby’ chatbot, she did neither. But to gain attention, everything was posted online. It turned out that throughout the journey they were filming the young man on a mobile phone. He does not speak Russian very well. He asked them to put the phone away. He asked several times, but apparently his nerves gave out. He struck with his hand, trying to knock the phone away. She later filed a complaint,” he said, describing the incident.
Kubrakou noted that after the video was published, numerous calls appeared online demanding that the driver be deported and held accountable, but urged against making decisions before all the circumstances had been established.
“Every situation must be examined. If a person has made a mistake, if they have realised it and shown remorse, they should be given a chance. Of course, their future behaviour should be monitored. Therefore, colleagues, I urge you to ensure fairness towards all citizens,” he said.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry said that a 29-year-old Minsk resident had reported to the city’s Maskouski District Police Department that she and her friend had been involved in a dispute with the driver during a Wildberries taxi ride, during which the man struck her.
The driver was identified as a 30-year-old foreign national. An investigation is under way and, according to the ministry, the outcome could result in official measures, including under migration legislation.
