Organise or fight? Three years in exile, Belarus opposition divided about path

Record ID: 1736856

  • Title: Organise or fight? Three years in exile, Belarus opposition divided about path
  • Date: 8th August 2023
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (JULY 27, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COMMANDER OF 'PASPALITAJE RUSENNIE', A BELARUSIAN PARAMILITARY GROUP OPERATING IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA, SERGEY KEDYSHKO HOLDING 'PASPALITAJE RUSENNIE' FLAG KEDYSHKO'S HAND / PAINTING ON WALL SHOWING LUKASHENKO SPRAYING ON WALL: ‘ME, 86%’ (OFFICIAL VOTE NUMBER FOR LUKASHENKO DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN 2020) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COMMANDER OF PASPALITAJE RUSENNIE, A BELARUSIAN PARAMILITARY GROUP OPERATING IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA, SERGEY KEDYSHKO, SAYING: “In February 2023, we announced the creation of an independent organization. At the same time, we declared that we will be in partner organizations with everyone who comes into touch with us because the main goal is to liberate Belarus so that there is a free country.” KEDYSHKO TALKING KEDYSHKO’S DRAWINGS FROM POLITICAL IMPRISONMENT AFTER ELECTION PROTESTS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COMMANDER OF PASPALITAJE RUSENNIE, A BELARUSIAN PARAMILITARY GROUP OPERATING IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA, SERGEY KEDYSHKO, SAYING: "When some kind of military action takes place, when it is necessary to act very quickly and effectively, the Belarusian opposition always lags behind, so we are losing.” KEDYSHKO’S BADGE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COMMANDER OF PASPALITAJE RUSENNIE, A BELARUSIAN PARAMILITARY GROUP OPERATING IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA, SERGEY KEDYSHKO, SAYING: "That's why we created such an organization. We are training people and preparing for the liberation of Belarus."
  • 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: LVA004305708082023RP1
  • 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
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register