- Title: Organise or fight? Three years in exile, Belarus opposition divided about path
- Date: 8th August 2023
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (RECENT- JULY 28, 2023) (REUTERS) DRONE SHOTS OF WARSAW SKYLINE POLISH FLAG WAVING ON MAST WARSAW, POLAND (RECENT - JULY 25, 2023) (REUTERS) FLAG OF BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION ON HEADQUARTERS OF ‘BELARUSIAN HOUSE’ GRAFFITI SHOWING FACES OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BELARUS PAINTINGS ON WALL / HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BELARUSIAN VETERANS, PAVEL MARYEUSKI GIVING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BELARUSIAN VETERANS, PAVEL MARYEUSKI, SAYING: “At first I thought about Ukraine, about Ukrainians and about protecting life. Then I thought about Belarus because I understood that if Russia loses the war, internal processes in the country will begin, which could be called a struggle for power or a struggle for survival when the Russian elites would begin fighting among themselves, who will be at the Olympus of politics after losing the war (who takes power after losing the war).†PAVEL MARYEUSKI TALKING LOGO OF ‘BELARUSIAN HOUSE’ PAINTING AT ENTRANCE, SHOWING RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AND BELARUS LEADER ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO PRESENTED AS FARMERS FROM ‘AMERICAN GOTHIC’ PAINTING BY GRANT WOOD (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BELARUSIAN VETERANS, PAVEL MARYEUSKI, SAYING: "I see this as an opportunity for us Belarusians to return home. Plus the fact that we are in Ukraine gaining experience, this will most likely be useful to us in Belarus because 2020 showed that protesting with flowers and white socks left on the benches gives you nothing.†WARSAW, POLAND (RECENT - JULY 18, 2023) (REUTERS) PEOPLE STANDING IN FRONT OF BELARUSIAN BAR ‘KARMA’, WHICH WAS MOVED FROM ITS ORIGINAL LOCATION IN MINSK, BELARUS WOMEN WALKING INSIDE BAR WALL ART INSIDE BAR PICTURE SHOWING PIGEON AIMING GUN AT LUKASHENKO STREET ART IN FRONT OF BAR WITH QR CODE AND SIGN READING "Belarusian vibes for you" SECRETARY AND MEMBER OF "COORDINATION COUNCIL", NETWORK FOR BELARUSIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS, STANISLAVA GLINNIK TALKING TO REPORTER IN FRONT OF BAR (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) SECRETARY AND MEMBER OF "COORDINATION COUNCIL", NETWORK FOR BELARUSIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS, STANISLAVA GLINNIK, SAYING: "The last time I was in Minsk was in October 2020, I was at the protests. I was hurt, unfortunately. I had my leg with stitches because I was hurt while running away from OMON. I returned to Poland with this trauma and was charged (in Belarus) with Article 361 point 1: Establishing an extremist organization. From the last messages that I got through my friend, which are also with me judged in one case, I am facing nine years in prison (in Belarus).†GLINNIK SITTING BY TABLE WITH STREET ART IN BACKGROUND COMMEMORATING ALES PUSHKIN, ARTIST AND POLITICAL PRISONER WHO DIED THIS YEAR IN BELARUSIAN JAIL UNDER UNEXPLAINED CIRCUMSTANCES (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) SECRETARY AND MEMBER OF "COORDINATION COUNCIL", NETWORK FOR BELARUSIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS, STANISLAVA GLINNIK, SAYING: “Now all the people who have problems with documents, legalization of stay, studies or whatever will never go to a Belarusian embassy, they will rather call Tsikhanouskaya's office. This is no longer opposition, it is a real government-in-exile.†GLINNIK TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) SECRETARY AND MEMBER OF "COORDINATION COUNCIL", NETWORK FOR BELARUSIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS, STANISLAVA GLINNIK, SAYING: "I know for sure that I want to return to Belarus, but to the new one. To the one we dream about, to the one we would build ourselves. To this Lukashenka's Belarus - no, no." WARSAW, POLAND (AUGUST 6, 2023) (REUTERS) CONFERENCE OF BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION IN PROGRESS TSIKHANOUSKAYA ADDRESSING CONFERENCE VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (AUGUST 2, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BELARUS' EXILED OPPOSITION LEADER, SVIATLANA TSIKHANOUSKAYA, SAYING: "We managed to maintain the unity of democratic forces and restructure them, that is, create new bodies and maintain cooperation between political actors and civic initiatives.†WARSAW, POLAND (AUGUST 6, 2023) (REUTERS) TSIKHANOUSKAYA ADDRESSING CONFERENCE VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (AUGUST 2, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BELARUS' EXILED OPPOSITION LEADER, SVIATLANA TSIKHANOUSKAYA, SAYING: â€Perhaps some of them will have enough common sense, and will understand that Lukashenko is leading Belarus nowhere, that he is selling our sovereignty.†WARSAW, POLAND (AUGUST 6, 2023) (REUTERS) LEADING MEMBER OF BELARUS OPPOSITION PAVEL LATUSHKO SPEAKING DURING PANEL ON STAGE
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2023 11:01
- Keywords: Belarusians in Poland Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya exile government
- Location: WARSAW, BIALYSTOK AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, POLAND / MINSK, BELARUS / VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
- City: WARSAW, BIALYSTOK AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, POLAND / MINSK, BELARUS / VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA002305708082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Three years after the presidential election in Belarus ignited the crackdown, Belarusian opposition is diverse and diffuse, probably comprising a few thousand of the 100,000 people estimated to have fled the country since 2020, with politics ranging from liberalism to nationalism.
Many face lengthy sentences for criminal charges in absentia should they return to Belarus.
Reuters spoke to more than 20 opposition figures to gauge their mood.
They are divided over tactics, but they are united by their anger at Lukashenko's continued rule, his jailing and torturing of thousands of opponents, and his close alliance with Russia which they say negates Belarus's sovereignty.
Pavel Maryeuski, 33, was an activist committed to peaceful politics who had never held a weapon when he fled his native Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on protests following an election three years ago.
Last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine, he felt the call to battle and joined a Belarus volunteer unit fighting in support of Ukraine at the front.
If Russia loses, there could be a change in Belarus too.
And his fellow veterans of the Ukraine conflict are bound to play a role in the fight for their own country.
Stanislava Glinnik, whose grandfather was Belarus's first post-Soviet head of state until he lost the last competitive election to Lukashenko in 1994, is now part of a body called the Coordination Council, a network for civil society groups.
Activists help Belarusians escape abroad, hackers are developing apps that allow safe communication within Belarus and some groups track the location of troops in the country.
But a small but growing number of activists, many with combat experience in Ukraine, say it is time to train for a real fight.
Sergey Kedyshko, 47, who leads a group of around 200 Belarusian volunteers conducting combat training in Poland and Lithuania, agreed with the premise that the opposition needs to get more fighting fit.
Six weeks ago, there was a brief jolt of hope for the Belarus opposition, when Russia's Wagner mercenary group launched a mutiny inside Russia.
At the height of the uprising, with Wagner fighters bearing down on Moscow, Tsikhanouskaya tweeted that she was "establishing a United Operational Headquarters" to "coordinate our activities at this critical time".
With Lukashenko's Kremlin sponsors in jeopardy, he was suddenly weaker than ever, she said.
But within hours, Lukashenko himself helped bring an end to the Russian mutiny, negotiating for Wagner fighters to move to Belarus.
Weeks later, hundreds of battle-hardened fighters arrived.
The opposition's optimism swiftly fizzled.
Exactly what role the Wagner fighters will play in Belarus is anyone's guess, but for the opposition, nothing good can come of it, said Kedyshko.
(Production: Kuba Stezycki, Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, Malgorzata Wojtunik) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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