One evening last week, a Belarusian opposition leader, Maria Kolesnikova, was projected to place a portrait on the wall of a Minsk apartment block.
Mocked to look like the famous Soviet war poster, Motherland Calls, the photo, created by Anna Redko, shows Kolesnikova bravely holding a torn passport – referring to her actions on the Ukrainian border on Tuesday when Alexander Lukasseva tried to protect her.
“She decided on a powerful gesture. That is why he is one of the leaders of the opposition and I am the press secretary. Ivan Krevtsov, one of the other two with Kolesnikova who was deported the next day, told reporters in Kiev the next day.
Kolesnikova is now the KGB of Minsk. Is in prison, and her determination not to be forced into exile was the most effective act of neglect in the revolutionary moment, led and defined by women from the very beginning. On Saturday afternoon, women wearing flowers and posters gathered in Minsk to protest – some were detained by masked men in green uniforms. Saturday’s demonstrations have become regular ahead of Sunday’s main protests in the city center, where more than 100,000 people have gathered in the past four weeks.
Quick guide
Where are they now Belarusian women who opposed Lukashenko
Svetlana Tikhnovskaya
Initially a stand-in for her husband, a popular blogger who was banned from running and imprisoned by the authorities, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya became the main opposition candidate for Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a self-proclaimed anti-woman led by Maria. Kolesnikova and Veronica Tspeklo.
She fled to neighboring Lithuania in early August, from where she posted a video showing her facing the last name associated with her family.
In September, in a video before the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, he vowed that the country’s movement for democratic change would not be defeated, despite the constant intimidation and violence of Lukashenko’s regime.
Veronica Tspeklo
A former employee of Micros.ft, she was the head of her husband Valerie Tsepaklo’s campaign before she was forced to flee to Moscow with the couple’s children before the election. After campaigning with Tikhnovskaya and Kolesnikova, she joined him on election day.
Except for a one-day stopover in Belarus when she says she has been threatened with prison, she has been in exile in Moscow. “I think I can stay in Moscow, be free, and speak for the people of Belarus in the international community,” he told a radio interviewer in early August.
Maria Kolesnikova
Another opposition politician, Victor Babriko, also had Kolesnikova as head of the presidential campaign, who also banned elections and imprisoned the government. She was the only of three women to live in Belarus after the disputed August Gust elections.
September In September, it was reported that he had been abducted from the streets of the capital, Minsk, by unknown masked men. Kolesnikova’s press aide, Anton Rodnenkov, confirmed her abduction to the media, after which she disappeared about 40 minutes later. According to the Ukrainian minister, Kolesnikova tore his passport at the Belarus-Ukraine border in order to frustrate his deportation efforts. It is currently taking place in Minsk.
He announced on August 31 that he would form a new political party together.
She was a woman candidate who rallied against Lukashenko before last month’s election. The dictator imprisoned or deported men who wanted to stand up to him, but thinking that the woman could not pose a real challenge, he allowed the wife of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, one of his opponents, to vote. Along with Kolesnikova and Veronica Tsepkolo, the wife of another candidate who fled Belarus after receiving threats, the three women traveled the country and gained support for their simple message of facilitating political change.
Lukashenko’s misogynist rhetoric also served as a dynamic force. In an interview at the headquarters of his campaign in central Minsk last month, Kolesnikova said that “the current president expressed himself about her and her role, she insulted many women.”
There were also women who provided impetus for the rejuvenation of the protests after the horrific violence that erupted over the protesters after Lukashenko’s impractical victory was declared.
After three evenings of vandalism by riot police, 250 women, dressed in white and holding flowers, were also on a roadside def in central Minsk. The police left them untouched and the next day there were many rows of flower-flying women in the city.
In recent weeks, as most of its leaders have been expelled from Belarus, Kolesnikova has become a visible face of the movement, appearing fearless and cheerful despite stacked obstacles against opponents, a regular presence at rallies until her earlier kidnapping-style arrest. Living. Week.
Last month he said his role was just to show people that it is possible to demand political change. He said: “West, Russia will not help – we can only help ourselves. In this way it turned out that female faces have become a signal for women, and even men, everyone should take responsibility. “
