Dmytro Bondarenko: Poland Denied Asylum To Protasiewicz In 2020

04.11.2025, 07:19 charter97.org

Dmytro Bondarenko: Poland Denied Asylum To Protasiewicz In 20204.11.2025, 8:10 Dmitry BondarenkoPhoto: Charter97.orgIt's up to each individual to choose who to trust.Lukashenko said that Roman Protasevich is a "Belarusian intelligence officer" and the landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk was a "cover operation." However, information about Protasevich's work for the Belarusian intelligence services appeared long before the ruler's words.March 4, 2024, the website Charter97.org published an interview of Dmitry Bondarenko, coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Dmitry Bondarenko for the YouTube channel Malanka, in which the opposition politician stated that Protasevich was an agent, and possibly even an officer of the Belarusian special services. After Lukashenko's words, this was actually confirmed.What then was the basis of this statement? This and other questions the correspondent of the site Charter97.org asked the coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Dmitri Bondarenko:- There were many grounds for my statement. First - Protasevich from 2014 to 2018 was either permanently in Ukraine or traveled there. Moreover, this was known in opposition circles as well. He even made public appearances, albeit in a mask, presenting himself as the press service of the Belarusian volunteers. Nevertheless, many people knew that Protasevich was in the location of the volunteer battalion "Azov" and other volunteer units. He even boasted that he had taken part in combat operations. Everything seemed fine, but then he calmly returned to Belarus and was there without any consequences until the beginning of 2020. How could the Belarusian special services miss this? It was immediately suspicious.We had working contacts with the blogger Stepan Putilo. We made a movie together in 2019, "Lukashenko. Criminal Materials." We didn't agree on everything, but we had contacts. Then Protasiewicz appeared in Warsaw. Our ties with the Nekhta team stopped, they didn't want to meet anymore. Putilo said: "My partner Protasiewicz doesn't like Charter, he doesn't like European Belarus. He doesn't want to talk to you."Although I managed to organize a meeting with them before August 2020. I said that we have people in Belarus. It is important and vital to coordinate activities, because they had serious opportunities, a powerful Telegram channel. But European Belarus had great experience and structures in the country. But Protasevich said there would be no coordination.Another point: when the plane landed in Minsk, Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested. A few months after her release, she claimed that Roman told her on the eve of the flight, "I had a dream that tomorrow we will be in Minsk." The man gave himself away.The most important argument for me was the following moment. I spoke with Protasiewicz at the end of September 2020, and he told me that he had to leave Warsaw. Imagine: the year 2020, the Nechta Telegram channel is at the peak of its popularity, their office is in the center of Warsaw. Protasiewicz gives interviews to everyone, including a big interview with Gordon. But the Polish authorities, based on the data of their special services rejected Protasiewicz's application for political asylum in Poland.After that, Protasiewicz moved to Vilnius. And already in Tihanovska's office, Franak Viachorka appointed him "chief responsible for holding mass actions in Belarus."Why was it necessary to "withdraw" the agent, to return him to Belarus in 2021? Because after Poland refused to grant asylum, Protasiewicz was very much afraid that Lithuanian security services would find out who he really was. His activity was under threat - that's why he had to be "taken out". The only thing the Belarusian authorities miscalculated: they thought that by landing the plane, they would scare the opposition abroad. But they didn't take into account that Europe is particularly sensitive to the hijacking of planes, to forcing airliners to land in other countries - since the 1970s, when Palestinian organizations like "Black September" hijacked planes.And since this plane belonged to an Irish airline, with EU citizens on board, the sanctions followed hard and fast. The Belarusian authorities miscalculated.- What do you think is behind this statement by Lukashenko, and why did he decide to say it now?"- I have this version. I am sure, I even know that during the negotiations of the US President's representatives with the officials of Lukashenko's regime, the Americans raise the question: not only the political prisoners should be released, but also the ruler is recommended to achieve a minimum peace in the country and to hold negotiations (round table) with the representatives of "democratic forces", i.e. with Tikhanovskaya's entourage.Lukashenko says in response: "How can I sit down at the negotiating table with them, if my people, my agents are everywhere there?".There was a wonderful trio of pseudo-oppositionaries who loved to be photographed: Tikhanovskaya, Latushko - a long-time official who calls himself the leader of the opposition without any scruples (he was fired from the post of theater director on August 17, and already on September 3, 2020 he was taken to Poland) - and, of course, the famous Melnikova.And here Lukashenko shows Western politicians: "Look who they really are." Hence the scandal with Melnikova, her escape with the theft of the CC money. Hence the publication of a video where Tikhanouskaya takes money from Lukashenko's general of special services. This is extremely unprofessional. I think all Lukashenko's special services are terrified, because they don't "scare" their people like that.And these scandals with Latushko, though not fully developed, allowed Lukashenko to show the West: "This is not an oppositionist". This is enough."Cyberpartisans" published information that they have data on KGB officers and two thousand agents. It is likely that some people will be "taken out of harm's way" by such preemptive statements in Lukashenko's style. And he will not always do it himself. I can predict that such statements will still be made - before the Cyberpartisans, if they really own this database, release the names.- Protasevich had close contacts with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's office. What information could he pass to the intelligence services, and why, in your opinion, did the office fail to recognize or even cover up the agent? - He not only had close contacts, he was responsible in Tikhanovskaya's office for holding mass actions in Belarus. He was a key person. It is clear that Tikhanovskaya's office did not have its own counterintelligence service. And no democratic organization ever had it in Belarus and could not have it. Yes, there are some rules of common sense, but democratic parties, movements and media were not ready to reveal the agents of special services - it was impossible.Protasevich's task was not only to get information. The main thing is that he was embedded in the democratic movement long ago. When he arrived in Warsaw, the authorities did not expect the protests of summer-autumn 2020 to reach such a scale. At least two million people participated in actions across the country. Protasiewicz's main task is to disrupt the protests. People still ask why such ridiculous gathering places, strange routes were chosen, why the start time of the actions changed: first they gathered at 14:00, then they moved it to 12:00. It turns out that it wasn't accidental.Another thing is that the protests gained great strength because the Belarusians were tired of living under Lukashenko's regime and openly resisted the lies and election fraud. Protasiewicz and other Lukashenko's agents could not stop them quickly. It took a huge effort on their part.In addition, Protasiewicz collected data on issues important to the regime. His friend Sapieha was the administrator of several chat rooms and channels, including the "Black Book of Belarus", where information about the punishers was published. It was extremely important for the Belarusian security services to get the names of those who passed the data to independent bloggers and media - and they partially succeeded.Why the data from phones and computers were not destroyed when the Ryanair plane landed is also a big question. Protasiewicz, in fact, continued to coordinate the collection of this information. Here we should remember the "successes" of Tihanovska's office - this is the plan "Peramoga", which did not yield results, but thousands of people were arrested. Or the Rabochy Rukh project, which was against strikes but raised huge funds, including with Tihanowska's support. These are also protest chat rooms - many administrators ended up abroad, while the participants were arrested in Belarus. Scandals with agents at Infopoint, leaks among those who received domestic aid from BYHELP and BYSOL structures. People who transferred aid also fell under repression. The arrests of people who passed information to the "Gayun" project have not stopped in the country.A prominent example is the project "passport of the new Belarus". The value of this souvenir document is equal to a magnet on the refrigerator. But to buy it for 100 euros, a person must submit fingerprints and copies of original documents - the Belarusian passport and legalization documents in the EU or other countries. Why such data are collected for the souvenir? In whose hands will this base fall?"Protasevich could also influence the collection of information about the receipt and distribution of financial aid for Belarusian projects. At first, there was a huge amount of aid - from the U.S. and the European Union (more than 300 million dollars in total), and from the Belarusians, who are firmly on their feet in economic terms. Because there are Belarusian millionaires, multimillionaires, and billionaires, who provided assistance to their fellow countrymen in Belarus, who were forced t