Dmytro Bondarenko: Last Year The Trio Was Caught Up In Huge Scandals

Ales Beliatski may become the defender of Belarusians.

What will happen after Svetlana Tihanovska moves from Lithuania to Poland? Why do people who called themselves "leaders" in 2020 refuse to take responsibility? Who should Belarusians hope for today?

About this, Charter97.org asked the coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Dmitry Bondarenko:

- How do you feel about the fact that Tikhanovskaya and part of her office are moving to Poland from Lithuania?

- I don't expect anything good. Tihanovska is a sign of trouble. She cowardly ran away from Belarus the day after the elections in 2020, today she also left Lithuania in disgrace, leaving tens of thousands of Belarusians with problems that arose through her fault as well. Of course, the situation in Lithuania with regard to Belarusians is ambiguous, but the facts are as follows: at the beginning of 2024, 62 thousand Belarusians had residence permits in Lithuania. By the end of 2025, 50 thousand of them remained, i.e. minus 12 thousand for two years.

I periodically visit Lithuania and have heard from Lithuanians that "your Tikhanovskaya drives cars with blinkers, scares people, while the President and Prime Minister of Lithuania very rarely use them".

The attitude towards Belarusians was affected by the fact that the "leader" could not learn even a few phrases in Lithuanian for five years, did not try to learn the language of the country that accepted her. It also affected the general attitude to Belarusians. Just think about it, a person left Vilnius because the Lithuanian police protection "was not enough for her". Yesterday's housewife can't live without the security and living standards of a VIP.

Today I, a person who has been living in Warsaw for a long time, anxiously await what will happen after Tihanouskaya and her entourage move to Poland.

- In Warsaw, hearings of the so-called "coordination" council were held, where Svetlana Tihanouskaya was present. The hearing was interrupted suddenly, 2.5 hours before the scheduled time, because Tihanovska, according to her aides, was tired. Is there any use for such hearings and meetings?

- I have always been very critical of the structures that are affiliated with Svetlana Tihanovska, because initially she was absolutely unprepared for the role of a leader, and it was obvious that she only voiced texts and ideas that were offered to her by advisers from her entourage. We remember that the first "coordination council" was headed by Tihanovska's confidante, Olga Kovalkova, a graduate of the Interior Ministry Academy. Thousands of people were included there, but for some reason only seven members of the presidium had the right to vote there. It is this "council" that is responsible for the failure of the protests.

Today, some people from this obscure "council" are comparing themselves to the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Congress is chosen in fair democratic elections, in which hundreds of millions of American citizens participate. In Belarus, about 7 million people have the right to vote. Just over 6 thousand people allegedly voted or participated in the "elections" for the last composition of this "coordinating council". This is just an NGO with a few dozen participants. It is absurd to compare ourselves with some kind of parliament.

These "hearings" reminded me very much of a Soviet Komsomol meeting at school, which was attended by an angry aunt from the district committee. Tikhanovskaya was always talking about herself in the third person and attacking those timid representatives of the "coordinating council".

- There were many topics at the hearings, but the "coordinating council" never discussed the disappearance of its speaker Angelika Melnikova, who a year ago disappeared with the cash of this organization - $150 thousand. Why did they decide to forget about this incident?

- Yes, everyone forgot that a year ago the Belarusian opposition was represented by a trio, which was always posting photos with international politicians in social networks. This trio included Pavel Latushko, Angelika Melnikova and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. None of them were involved in any opposition activity before 2020.

Last year, the whole trio was caught up in grandiose scandals. Pavel Latushko, one of the CC leaders and part-time deputy to Tihanovska in her office, was accused of harassment by a member of the "coordinating council," lawyer Olga Karpushonok. Both members of the CC sued each other in the courts of European countries.

Anzhelika Melnikova, appointed by Pavel Latushko as the chairman of the "coordination council", who also liked to call herself the "leader of democratic forces", escaped from Poland with a considerable amount of money and also turned out to be a spy of Lukashenka's special services. Also in 2025, it became known that the "leader" Svetlana Tikhanovskaya received 15 thousand euros from a general of the same Lukashenko's special services and shamefully kept silent about this fact for five years.

These scandals undermined the last trust of Belarusians in the structures associated with Tikhanovskaya. But practically nothing was said about it at the hearings. These are such uninquisitive members of the "coordinating council," there are more important issues.

- Tikhanovskaya stated that "Plan Peramog," which was handled in her office by Lieutenant Colonel Azarov, "turned out to be a mistake. The office had many such "mistakes," such as the project "Black Book of Belarus," in which the GUBOPiK officer Haika infiltrated, which led to large-scale arrests. Another project close to Tikhanouskaya - "Belaruski Gayun" by blogger Anton Motolko - is currently being detained. Why is no one responsible for these "mistakes," which cost hundreds of Belarusians their freedom?

- And why did Svetlana Tikhanovskaya trust Lieutenant Colonel Azarov so much? I mean, he wasn't just close to the office, he was the "minister" for restoring law and order in Tikhanovskaya's transition office. And when he was forced to be removed as "minister" after all the scandals, Tikhanovskaya said: "It's a pity, but now he will be responsible for the underground in Belarus".

Imagine, a Gestapo lieutenant-colonel is responsible for the underground in Belarus, and nobody asked about the results of his activity. Apart from the failures you have listed, why is no one responsible for the game of "crosses and zeros" in 2022, when people were called for a "referendum" and "elections" in Lukashenko's "tent"? In 2025, Tikhanovskaya, Melnikova and Latushko - all of them were calling for "elections" of dictator Lukashenko. Videos were made, huge money was spent on it. A few days ago, Estonia announced that it was looking for another former "minister" of Tihanovska Zaretskaya for financial fraud.

It's hard to say where Tihanovska and her team had even minimal success, except for tourist trips to Albania and Iceland. But now both journalists and ordinary Belarusians are asking uncomfortable questions. Tikhanovskaya angrily replies that it's a "conspiracy against her," that "it's hard to fight with Lukashenko, while it's easier with her." In my opinion, the Belarusians have already figured it out and are disappointed in all these "OPCs, "KCs," "OSCs" and "OSTs."

- Who should the Belarusians hope for today and what to do next? After all, the people who called themselves leaders in 2020 are clearly not such.

- Hope for real leaders. There are such leaders among those who are now out of prison. They are Evgeny Afnagel, Polina Sharendo-Panasiuk and, in my opinion, the trade union leader Gennady Fedynich, there is hope for Ales Bialiatski, as well as for those people who are still in prison. There are so many leaders out there - local, regional, national.

It is true that people living in Belarus today are in perhaps the most difficult situation in recent decades. Taking advantage of Russia's war with Ukraine, the Lukashenko regime has simply stopped enforcing even its own laws. Thousands of people continue to be imprisoned on political articles.

I fully agree with Gennady Fedynich, who recently got out of prison and said that thousands of Belarusians who have found themselves abroad are simply abandoned. Because there are a lot of problems - with legalization of documents, medicine, pensions and employment. And this should be dealt with by people who have professionalism and care for Belarusians.

I have a concrete proposal. There is Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel laureate, an authoritative person, a human rights activist and a former political prisoner. Maybe he would pick up a team and become an ombudsman, a defender for all Belarusians - not only those in the country, but also abroad. Because there are a lot of issues, but they are solvable. And Ales could attract resources, he has authority. International leaders, heads of governments and ministers, who are responsible for the directions of legalization of Belarusians abroad, will meet and consider him. Certainly, Ales knows perfectly well the state of human rights in the Republic of Belarus today, and first of all those who are imprisoned.

This is a concrete proposal, because the European Union, the USA, Norway, Great Britain, Canada allocated huge money to support democratic Belarusian projects. Many of these funds were spent on the cause, but very many of them were spent at least ineffectively. The most important thing is that the absolute majority of Belarusians, who are now abroad, say that nobody deals with their problems. All attempts to address the structures connected with Tikhanouskaya lead to nothing. The legal situation inside Belarus is close to a humanitarian catastrophe; serious and prompt actions are needed to help and save very many Belarusian citizens.

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