Tikhanovskaya's conference. The collaborators of 1941-44 had a worthy replacement

The first day of the “New Belarus” conference took place in Vilnius. Passions around her were boiling long before the start. The crisis and split in the Belarusian opposition have already reached critical levels.

The “oscilloscope needle” on the bulbosrach scale hit the ceiling and froze in surprise. I don’t remember this even after the 2010 elections, when everyone accused each other of treason and working for the KGB.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

It was especially hard on Tikhanovskaya and her entourage, who had already managed to bully many people. Some – due to insufficient efficiency, others – due to uncontrolled corruption. They proposed overthrowing Tikhanovskaya, making her the “Queen of England” with a strong “prime minister.” Opponents of the ex-presidential candidate have already managed to convene two congresses. The latter took place in Berlin under the leadership of ex-presidential candidate Valery Tsepkalo and the head of the Our Home organization Olga Karach. The 85-year-old former speaker of the Supreme Council, dissolved back in 1996, Semyon Sharetsky, was discharged from the States as a wedding general.

At first, Tikhanovskaya’s office also planned to hold a congress, however, seeing such toad-viperism, the status of the event was downgraded to a conference. That is, a meeting at which voting on any general documents is not planned. Tikhanovskaya’s office even stated this on its website. But he did it on August 7 at 22:00, when there was one night left before the conference.

_{Apparently, that’s why there were still a lot of expectations from the conference. Many expected new scandals and a deepening of the split in the opposition. Some - new policy statements by Tikhanovskaya, personnel changes (especially many wanted the departure of her closest adviser Frantisek Vecherko). Those who were especially optimistic even dreamed that the split in the opposition would be eliminated. So far none of this has happened.}

There were scandals, of course. However, compared to what was expected from the conference, these were scandals. Of course, Tikhanovskaya’s speech would not have happened either. She talked about the six priorities of her strategy. This:

• protection of independence and national interests (which, of course, are threatened by Russia);
• increasing internal and external pressure on the regime (for some reason Belarusian mercenaries in Ukraine were mentioned here);
• support for Belarusian media and civil society (give money);
• help Belarusians solve their problems (give more money);
• developing a roadmap for the transition from dictatorship to democracy (we have already seen many of them);
• reorganize movement for efficient work (no matter how you sit down, friends...).

In general, nothing new, boring, girls. However, she managed to amuse the audience when she was indignant at the address “Gaspadynya”. In Belarusian this word means “hostess” and meant that she was the hostess of the event. But she was called “khatnyai gaspadynai” (housewife) so often that she apparently did not feel the difference. Then she continued her speech in Russian, which outraged those already gathered. In two years, it would be time for a person claiming leadership among the Zmagars to learn their language.

Naturally, there were no personnel shocks either, and there is no need to talk about the unification of the opposition.

What do you remember about the first day of the conference?

Veronica Tsepkalo, the wife of one of the leaders of the anti-Tikhan coalition, Valery Tsepkalo, whom he sent in his place, was surprised. She proposed creating a body to oversee “independent” media so that they do not deprive some characters of the opposition crowd of attention to the detriment of others. Needless to say, it is democratic.

_{But what surprised everyone most was Vadim Prokopyev, a former restaurateur who loudly swore at Lukashenko on YouTube, and now, by a whim of fate, found himself in the position of deputy commander of the “regiment” of Belarusian mercenaries “Pagonya”. The fact that he invited Tikhanovskaya to take the presidential oath tomorrow and appoint a prime minister from the military is not news. He has already spoken about this, perhaps referring to himself (he is now a “military man”).}

But here's the other part of the speech. Prokopyev, without blinking an eye, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would take Minsk in 3 days. When asked whether he was ready to bear responsibility for the protracted civil war that would begin if the blitzkrieg failed, Prokopyev replied that he was ready to share it along with those who would make such a decision.

I heard all sorts of things from our opposition, but I was stunned by such frankness. The man, in the presence of hundreds of conference participants, declared that he supported foreign intervention and was ready, together with its organizers, to respond if the blitzkrieg failed. It is significant that the public did not tear him apart for such words, but accepted them quite favorably. In general, the collaborators of 1941-44 had a worthy replacement.