Belarus is “emptied” of people – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

– My own story is a kind of Hollywood film with a happy ending. But with my home country, unfortunately, it’s a completely different story.

Nadja Zelenkova makes coffee for NRK and for her husband Aleksandr. We are sitting in the pleasant loft apartment they rent a little west of the center in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

– Many of my friends have disappeared. I don’t know if they are alive or not. The lawyers do not get in touch with them either.

As modern people everywhere else in the world, they can work with advertising and web design almost anywhere.

– I have customers all over the world, including some here in Estonia. But otherwise we are not particularly integrated into life here, says Nadja.

Because the married couple have fled the brutal regime in their home country of Belarus.

In jail

In February 2021, NRK told the story of the little family. At the time, the husband was still in prison in Minsk.

Nadja had given birth to their second child, Urzula, two months earlier. She was worried about Aleksandr who was accused of financial fraud.

But everyone understood that this was political. The husband had committed himself to the opposition. He had promoted the businessman Viktor Babariko, who was the opposite candidate President Lukashenko.

Babariko was arrested long before the election in August 2020. Later, Aleksandr was also arrested.

But just after the New Year 2022, Aleksandr was released, although he was formally found guilty of fraud charges.

The spouse Nadja could hardly believe it when the picture of a tired but happy husband outside the prison appeared on the phone.

He was still not completely free. To avoid a new trial and sentence, he chose to flee the country. – It was fantastic to see my new daughter Urzula for the first time, says Aleksandr to NRK.

Particularly highly educated

It is likely that several hundred thousand Belarusians are now seeking temporary refuge in the Baltic countries.

At a café in the city centre, NRK meets Vitalij Moltsjanov. He is opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaja’s representative in Estonia.

– We are sitting on unofficial information that there are around 7.8 million people left in Belarus now. But this is classified information and impossible to confirm, claims Moltsjanov.

According to the Belarusian authorities, the population is 9.1 million. What is certain is that hundreds of thousands have left Belarus.

Many, especially the highly educated, have moved to the Baltic countries and Poland, but also Russia, Kazakhstan and Georgia. After the 2020 election, the pace of emigration has increased sharply, according to the Polish research center Center for Eastern Studies.

A thousand arrested just since the New Year

Lukashenko’s regime has gotten worse and worse. It takes very little to end up in prison.

A group of independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations has called for an end to the unprecedented level of political repression in Belaurs.

According to the human rights group Vjasna, close to a thousand people, one third of them women, have been arrested for political reasons just since the turn of the year.

Among those in prison is the Nobel Prize winner from 2022, Aljes Bjaljatski.

Don’t dare say too much

Aleksandr Vasilevich is now a free man.

But no more free than that he doesn’t want to talk directly to us. He fears what might happen to his family and friends back home in Belarus.

He was one of the political prisoners whom the Belarusian dictator met in the prison in Moscow in 2020 – a strange séance that no one really understands the purpose of.

For several hours they sat together with President Lukashenko. The only thing that came out of the meeting was that some of the prisoners were set free. Those who remained were given slightly better cups to drink tea and water from.

16 people in one cell

While Aleksandr does not want to talk directly about what he has experienced, Andrus Ljakcievich is more than happy to talk about life as a political prisoner in Belarus.

He was arrested because he had posted drawings on the internet that were perceived as critical of the regime.

Andrus is also trying to create a new life for himself in Tallinn, as an artist and designer.

– There were usually 15 of us in the cell, which was perhaps 25–30 square meters in size. But it could be 16, and then one of us would have to sleep on a small table, says Andrus.

Around half of those in the cell were political prisoners. The others were “ordinary criminals”. Some were accused of serious violence or murder.

– They took away yellow badges and yellow clothes, which could be associated with the opposition. The whole thing was very reminiscent of the situation in the German concentration camps, says Andrus Ljakcijevicj.

– Much is decided in Ukraine

For more than three years she has lived here in Tallinn. Daughter Urzula is already almost three and a half years old. In the loft apartment, Aleksandr and Nadja are preparing for the fact that it may be a long time before they get to go home again.

Nadja believes a lot depends on how the war in Ukraine goes:

– There is a lot to be decided in Ukraine that has an impact on what will happen next with Belarus. But not everything. Each country must make its own choices.