Belarus KGB Adds Stand-up Comedian to Terrorist List

The Belarus State Security Committee (KGB) has added well-known stand-up comedian Vyacheslav Komissarenko to its list of persons involved in terrorist activities, Orda reports.

The updated list was published on February 4, 2025.

Komissarenko was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison in December last year. The court found him guilty under several articles of the Belarus Criminal Code — inciting racial, national, or religious hatred, defamation of the country's prePresidentnd his public insult.

Komissarenko has been performing outside Belarus recently but has not yet commented on the situation.

The comedian became known for participating in Russian shows "Laughter Without Rules" and "Comedy Battle" and later became a resident of the Stand Up project on TNT. 

In 2020, he left the TV channel, explaining this by burnout and "laws of television."

Since then, Komissarenko has been running a YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers and performing in European Union countries.

In his stand-up performances, he repeatedly joked about President Alexander Lukashenko and addressed the protests in Belarus after the 2020 elections.

At the end of last month, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been President for more than 30 years, secured his seventh term.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov