Screenshot of the ONT video
MINSK, 29 July (BelTA) – Former head of a regional branch of the opposition party Narodnaya Gromada Olga Tishkevich told the ONT TV channel about feuds in the ranks of the Belarusian opposition, BelTA has learned.
The ONT TV channel remarked that Narodnaya Gromada is an unregistered political organization that is not held in high esteem among the opposition, including due to mistrust towards its leader Nikolai Statkevich. The organization heavily relies on grants from foreign donors.
In 2011 Nikolai Statkevich was sentenced to six years in prison for organizing riots. He was pardoned in 2015. In 2021 he was sentenced to 14 years in jail for staging riots.
According to Olga Tishkevich, she personally knew Nikolai Statkevich and corresponded with him for four years. When asked whether Sergei Tikhanovsky was Nikolai Statkevich's project, the activist responded that they had not known each other personally at that time. But when the latter's rating was coming to nothing, he “ran” to Sergei Tikhanovsky to burnish his credentials.
“There was time when they collaborated. There was a very interesting situation. When Statkevich was released from prison, his rating was pretty good. But when he engaged in squabbles with other opposition leaders, his rating began to shrink,” Olga Tishkevich emphasized.
The former opposition activist went on saying that there is a group of people in Vilnius who want “Sveta [Svetlana Tikhanovskaya] to go”. This is a kind of opposition within the opposition.
“This leads to internal wars. Some support Tikhanovskaya, others don't, and they fight each other. One girl even received a threat: watch out for your kids,” she added.
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