Euros to the East

In collaboration with Danwatch, a Danish investigative research center, OCCRP looked into an EU program that provided surveillance gear, patrol vehicles, and other equipment to Belarusian and Ukrainian authorities with the goal of strengthening the two countries’ border on the eastern edge of Europe.

But the program has a darker side. The Belarusian border guard service — the same agency that received the equipment — has been credibly accused of harassing domestic dissidents and of returning desperate Chechen asylum-seekers into Russian hands.

Read below for details — and watch for a second round of investigations on this topic in the coming months.