In front of the cameras, a Ukrainian was questioned about Pratasevich: as if he was looking at me in the mirror

S. Asejev was transferred from the isolation prison “Isolation” to the Krupskaya Library, in the very center of Donetsk. His handcuffs were removed and a conversation began about his “espionage”. Across from him sat the Russian propagandist Alexander Sladkov. He still works in Donetsk. Radio Donbass.Realii asked Asejev what he thought of the video with R. Pratasevičius: how do propagandists behave on air? What could have threatened Raman? How does a person prepare for such an interview?

– I felt like I was looking in the mirror of the past, it really reminded me a lot of what was happening to me in Sladkov +. I only gave an interview after six months in prison, and in the case of Pratasevičius, it is clear that he is still in shock. We don’t know what happened to his body, maybe he’s all blue from the bruises under his warm clothes. Those slight marks on my wrists that I managed to see, I think, are just the tip of the iceberg of what he did to her.

It is obvious to me how this man was sitting at this table. He didn’t even have to quote. Obviously, he had to go through some kind of system of physical abuse, be it torture and beatings or just beatings, but after all, he arrested his girlfriend.

And yet, this is where all the questions end, because as soon as someone close to you enters the system or is in danger of entering, as was my case (I was blackmailed by my mother’s safety), that’s it. You no longer need to be tortured in any way, just show your beloved girlfriend in the next room and colorfully tell her what you will do with her when you see him.

– Are hostages required to show any emotion during such interviews? After all, everything was filmed very dramatically, from different angles. Or maybe a person reaches that state where they naturally cry or laugh?

– As for the last episode of that interview with tears and semi-hysteria, it is basically even very real: a man in a critical situation and his facial expressions, gestures, dare I say, a hysterical expression on his face when he tried to laugh. … Everything could burst into very sincere tears, only they have nothing to do with what he said. Emotions are one, and the emotional form that led to that interview is quite another.

In my case, there was no such dramaturgy, I was not forced to show one or another emotion specifically in front of the cameras, I was asked to simply answer the questions with their manufactured answers, so I followed those logical lines.

– How exactly did you have to follow his version? Did they tell you?

– I did not say, said in advance that if we force you to memorize the text, it will be obvious, and we need you to answer in your own words, but all questions will be related to “spying” and you have no right to deviate from what is written in su In a “criminal case”. This means that if you are asked if you worked in intelligence, you will of course answer “yes.”

– How does a person conducting an interview of this type behave? In his case, it was Alexander Sladkov. The presenter behaves very confidently, wants to show his superiority over the interlocutor, makes dramatic comments. And what was behind the scenes, did he behave the same way?

– There was communication 5-7 minutes before filming. If we are talking about Sladkov, they are two different people before the camera turns on and in front of the camera. As soon as we entered the Krupskaya library, he greeted him with a handshake, asked if he needed help, the conversation was really without the slightest bit of tension.

As soon as the camera was turned on, it began to perform the task. I can’t speak about the journalist who spoke to Raman Pratasevičius, but I think that Sladkov really believed that I was a “spy”, because to check if it was true, he had no chance, so he treated me like a cameraman.

– How do you look: did he realize that he was actually talking about the hostage?

– I do not believe it. I could hardly imagine where they had me and where they took me after that interview. Although he was driving at least part of the way to Isolation with me, he could see with his own eyes that I had been hit by a paper bag on the hill.

“And you didn’t tell him about the torture?”

– Of course I didn’t say it. And at the beginning of the interview, I mentioned that I would like to avoid questions about ‘safe’ practices because I don’t want them to have a negative effect on your reputation. I literally remember that phrase … I had to bluntly lie, because I actually saw everything in Isolation during those six months. He replied that he did not intend to ask such questions and “thank you for caring about my reputation.”

– How long have you been persuaded for an interview?

– Yes, it lasted almost a week. The so-called counterintelligence operatives came, they took me to the nearby camera: the footage, which later went to Sladkov’s interview, was a women’s camera.

The woman pulled out. He made me eat buckwheat porridge, which was cooked especially for me, told me to turn the pages of the book. And when I asked him who it was, he replied that it was none of my business. I ate that porridge, rolled up a book in front of the camera, and said I had no intention of giving any interviews.

From that moment on, I received visitors every day and it all ended up reminding me that I had a mother whom I could see in a neighboring cell. Here later you said to me: “Do you want us to force you to experience what you had the first day?”, “Do you want to be treated in isolation?” But that did not produce the desired results. “Don’t forget you have a mother here,” was the most important argument, of course. That is why I say that Pratasevičius has a girlfriend there. That is all that has been said.

– Why do you think the Belarusian authorities needed to record such an interview? When he saw him in Sladkov’s interview, the most valuable thing was that he saw him alive. Only because of the propaganda is its value questionable. And what does Lukashenko want to show?

– In this case, our situation with Pratasevičius is absolutely different. My interview was the result of a hunger strike. The Ukrainian and Western media started writing about it, they had to prove that he was alive and well (although neither I nor Sladkov mentioned a word about the hunger strike).

In the case of Pratasevich, it is clear that Lukashenko has absolutely no authority. It’s all for the people of Minsk who saw that broadcast. The goal is to show that there are enemies within the country that we deal with strictly. This is content for internal use only.