"The Empire Will Collapse": Belarus Can Trigger Change Across The Region

28.04.2026, 20:03 charter97.org

"The Empire Will Collapse": Belarus Can Trigger Change Across The Region924.04.2026, 16:13 21,388 The presentation of the book "Belarus by Natalia Radina" gathered a full hall in Vilnius.Vilnius, one of the centers of Belarusian emigration after 2020, has long been accustomed to opposition actions, cultural and musical evenings, meetings with politicians. It seemed difficult to surprise this audience.But on a weekday evening, Wednesday, April 22, the visit center of the Seimas of Lithuania is filled with those who are interested in Belarus. The reason is presentation of the new book of the American famous historian Yuri Felshtinsky "Natalia Radina's Belarus: Journalist vs. Dictator". The meeting was attended by Natalia Radina, editor-in-chief of the website Charter97.org, coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Dmitry Bondarenko, and was moderated by priest Vyacheslav Borok. The event was attended by Lithuanian MP, leader of the "group of friends of Belarus" in the Seimas Ruslanas Baranavas, special envoy of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry for relations with democratic Belarus Asta Andrijauskienė, former political prisoner, leader of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Pavel Seviarynets, well-known human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience Leonid Sudalenko, former political prisoner and journalist Oleh Gruzdilovich, ex-prisoners of conscience Alexander Bobko, Sergei Sparish, former fighter of Kalinowski's regiment Alexander Klochko, Belarusian Orthodox priest of the Constantinople Patriarchate Georgy Roy, coordinators of the civil campaign "European Belarus" Maksim Viniarski, Andrei Sharendo, Andrei Voynich, blogger Andrei Pauk, representatives of the Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian diasporas.Blogger Dmitry Kozlov ("Gray Cat") published a video of the presentation on his YouTube channel."We all have a chance to finally get rid of this empire"At the beginning of the meeting, Natalia Radina emphasized that Vilnius played a special role in the appearance of Yuri Felshtinsky's book:- The idea of the book was born here, during the Free Russia Forum in 2023. I was invited as a speaker from Belarus, and I very briefly told the history of our country. I realized then that many people simply do not know about Belarus. It was very strange, because we are in the center of Europe, and today a lot depends on our country in the region as a whole. And people from Lithuania, Poland and Russia don't know who Belarusians are. There was great interest in our history in the hall and it became clear that people know nothing at all about the Polotsk Principality, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or the role played by Belarusians in these state unions.After that, Yuri Felshtinsky, whom I have known for many years, came up to me and said: "Natalia, you should write a book, because as a historian I realize how important your country is. After all, today, unfortunately, it has turned into a military bridgehead from which Russia threatens Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine. You need to write about Belarus so that people in the West realize that your country should be free."Yuri realized that it was difficult to write this book without being a Belarusian historian. He suggested doing it through the prism of my life. Of course, it seemed very strange to me: who am I to write a book about my life. But my friends supported me and said: "No, let's write it". And together with the leaders of "European Belarus" Andrei Sannikov, Dmitri Bondarenko and Belarusian Olympic medalist Alexandra Gerasimeni we started to tell about our country and struggle. I have been working as an independent journalist since I was 18 years old, and since 1996, when I came to Minsk, I witnessed all the events that took place in Belarus almost immediately after Alexander Lukashenko came to power.I hope that the book has turned out to be successful and that it will convince people all over the world that Belarus is worth fighting for, that the Belarusian people, who have been fighting for their freedom for 32 years, need support.Consecrator Vyacheslav Borok quoted an excerpt from the book, where Natalia Radina talks about her ancestors. In their fates, many Belarusians recognize the stories of their families - repression, exile, life under occupation. However, the book contains words about hope that "new generations will manage to escape from this vicious circle". The host asked whether Natalia Radina managed to do it:- I think that the Belarusians, who are fighting for their country today, have broken out of this vicious circle. I hope that I have managed to do the same. After all, when I came to journalism at the age of 18, I immediately realized that I would not work in the state media. It was 1997, and already then it was clear where the country was going, that Lukashenko was building a dictatorship, and there was no freedom in the state media. I was originally going to work in television, but I had to go to newspapers, because television was already taken over by Lukashenko and strict censorship was introduced there.As for the freedom of Belarusians, our country, it seems to me that now we are all in the process of breaking these shackles. For hundreds of years Belarus has been under Russian occupation, and now, when Russia is waging this shameful and terrible war against Ukraine, we all have a chance to finally get rid of this empire, that it will finally collapse, and we will be free.Csendz Vyacheslav Borok asked Dmitri Bondarenko who is the main enemy for him, as a Belarusian patriot. The opposition politician said that being in the KGB prison after the events of Square 2010, he was constantly asked why he was fighting Lukashenko: - At first, the officers of special services "pressed" us hard, exerted enormous pressure. But then we just talked, and I'm sure a lot of our conversations stayed in their heads. We said that we were fighting not against Lukashenka, because today there is one dictator, tomorrow there may be someone else. We are fighting for a free and Belarusian Belarus.I told them: "Look, if you were a national Belarusian dictatorship, maybe I wouldn't fight, although I love freedom so much that I'm not sure about it. But you are just licking the boots of the Russians, you are not officers of the Belarusian state and do not think about the security of our country."The Belarusian jailers have portraits of Putin and Russian flags on their walls. Back in 2010-2012, when they tried to recruit us, they referred to quotes from Denikin, Kolchak and Russian philosopher Ilyin. I said: "I am a Belarusian patriot, you are just unfit. We have always fought for freedom, for independence. We learned this from our neighbors, and, first of all, from the Lithuanians. Therefore, the main enemy for me is the Russian empire."It is time to learn the common history of resistance"Vyacheslav Borok turned to the biography of Natalia Radina and noted that she became editor-in-chief at a critical moment for Charter'97 - after the murder of the site's founder Oleg Bebenin by the regime. The presenter asked whether Natalya Radina was scared at that moment. The journalist told how the events of 2010 affected her life:- It was in "Charter" that I found friends and associates, people who always set the task to defeat Lukashenko.When Andrei Sannikov, head of the civil campaign "European Belarus" and one of the founders of the civil initiative "Charter'97", became a presidential candidate in 2010, we realized that it was a chance to change the situation. We were ready to risk even our lives and went with the intention not just to participate in the election campaign, as some politicians say today. We knew that we were going to the end. Andrei Sannikov was defeated by Lukashenko in 2010; according to independent observers, he was supposed to make it to the second round and could have become president of Belarus.Unfortunately, three months before the election, Oleg Bebenin, the founder of Charter and its editor-in-chief, was killed. Of course, it was a great shock for me, because Oleg was not just a colleague, he was a friend for many years. We started working with him back in 1997 in the newspaper "Name", which was then a very popular publication in Belarus. But it was clear that we could not stop. No matter how hard and scary it was, I was sure that we had to keep moving forward, we couldn't be afraid. After that election campaign, we all ended up in jail, we were arrested on election day in the square. But I'm very glad we didn't stop then. I believe that we showed an example that Belarusians should fight for their freedom, risk their will and life - there is no other choice.Ten years later, the people have regained their strength, people took to the streets again, and it became clear that as long as Lukashenko is in power, it is necessary to fight and protest.It should be noted that the participants of the meeting in Vilnius, the former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, repeatedly referred to the common past of Belarusians and Lithuanians. Dmitri Bondarenko, answering the question about the experience of the Belarusian resistance, pointed to the shared history of the countries in our region.- Belarus is not some unique country. We are the same state as Poland, Hungary or Czechoslovakia, the Baltic states in the late 80s. Belarusians are a bit late, but today we are fighting this "red dragon", the Russian double-headed eagle, which has returned after centuries. In that sense, we are one of the countries in the region that continues the common struggle for our and your freedom. We learned from the dissidents in the Baltic States, from the Polish Solidarity movement. But after 2020, I talked to many Polish veterans, heroes of the anti-communist resistance, and they said, "Look, we didn't have it so tough. Maybe only in the first months of martial law in Poland. What is happening in Belarus tod