Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
June 04, 2021

Roman Protasevich, Casualty Of The Ryanair Incident In Belarus, Is Spilling The Beans

A TV documentary of the bomb threat against a Ryanair plan (vid) has confirmed our analysis of a false narrative which had been constructed by Belorussian regime change activists.

They had alleged that on May 23 a Ryanair plane had been forced by the Belorussian government to land in Minsk after which one activist on board, Roman Protasevich, had been arrested. But in reality a real bomb threat, delivered by email, had been received at Minsk airport as well as by Lithuanian air authorities. The plane was made aware of the threat by the Belorussian air traffic control and the pilot, after communicating with Ryanair management, had decided to land in Minsk.

Belarus handled the case by the book and the plane was released after it had been unsuccessfully searched for the alleged bomb. There were outstanding arrest warrants against two passengers on board, Roman Protasevich and his Russian girl friend Sofia Sapega. Both were detained after passing through the custom and passport controls.

Roman Protasevich had been betrayed. Other regime change activists, with whom he had disagreed, had sent the bomb threat email to get him trapped.

This is evident from his testimony in the later part of the TV documentary linked above, where he appears as a lively and engaged chain smoker.

A second Belorussian TV piece (vid), with a ninety minutes excerpt from a four hour long interview of Protasevich, was broadcast yesterday:

Former editor-in-chief of NEXTA Roman Protasevich interviewed the Belarusian state channel ONT. In it, he pleaded guilty in a criminal case to organizing and preparing actions that violate public order, and also criticized the Belarusian opposition and said he respected Alexander Lukashenko.

In the interview Protasevich is spilling the beans about the whole foreign financed opposition organization which was behind the 2020 color revolution attempt in Belarus.


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'Western' media, as well as other regime change activist claim that Protasevich must have been tortured to say what he says. However, aside from light handcuff marks at his wrists there is no evidence of that. Protasevich had previously been wounded when he fought in the fascist Ukrainian Azov battalion against the Donbas secessionists. He is a tough guy who will not be impressed by handcuffs which, by the way, police everywhere use for good reasons.

During the Korea war U.S. pilots, captured by China, admitted to dropping biological weapons on China. The U.S. long denied the use of biological weapons and claimed that the pilots had been tortured and made false confessions. Decades later secret files were released which proved that the claims the pilots had made had been correct.

At the beginning of the interview with Marat Markov, the head of the Belorussian state TV channel ONT, Protasevich is still somewhat tense. But after 3 or 4 minutes the talk develops into a lively exchange during which Protasevich at times interrupts and corrects the journalist. Protasevich's voice sounds rough and at times pressed. He is a chain smoker and claims to have a cold. Towards the end, when they talk about the personal damage the color revolution attempt has caused to many, both get somewhat emotional but in no way hostile to each other.

Protasevich's demeanor, engagement, body language and general attitude throughout the interview has me convinced that he doing it voluntarily and that he is telling the truth. He is not reading off a script someone else has written. He is doing a tell all about the foreign financed regime change effort he had been part of. And why not? He has been betrayed by his former comrades. He is now expecting up to fifteen years of jail. Telling it all might well help him to lessen the sentence for his crimes.

There are yet no English subtitles on the interview and there is no English language transcript of the interview. The following are excerpts from an eight part summary published in Russian language on Office Life. The text is machine translated:

Roman Protasevich on the air of the ONT TV channel on the program “Markov. Nothing personal”, said that he agreed to be interviewed completely voluntarily. But he noted that he had a little cold.

He added that it is difficult to predict how the opposition will react to the interview, and he would not be surprised to be called a traitor.

Protasevich stressed that he absolutely does not care what they say. He, according to him, just wants to do everything to correct his mistakes.
...
Roman Protasevich on the air of ONT suggested that information about his flight over Belarus could have been given by Daniil Bogdanovich, who was the project director.

Protasevich stressed that for the first time in a long time, he reported data on his movements to someone. He wrote about the flight from Athens in a chat, which includes Frank Viacorka and Daniil Bogdanovich. With the latter, Protasevich had a conflict. Roman claims that, in fact, behind his back on an online "phone call" it was said that he could be fired. He himself did not participate in the "call" due to poor communication at the hotel. His colleagues told him about the content.

Protasevich believes that it was Bogdanovich who could have initiated the possible dismissal.

During the interview, Roman also stressed that he had nothing to do with the Black Book of Belarus channel. He only held one workshop on how to make headlines, etc. Roman thinks that a lot of personal data was transferred to the channel by ex-security officials. Protasevich stressed that he had nothing to do with the publication of personal data.

The 'black book' is a Telegram channel used by the opposition to publish addresses and personal information about Belorussian policeman and their families.

Protasevich then gives some details ofn persons involved in the opposition operation and of their corruption. I will skip this here as most are unknown to me and of minor interest. These though are people we have heard of:

The interviewee also walked around Olga Karach. He said that she got her possession of a house with an area of ​​600 square meters. m in the elite area of ​​Vilnius. Karach is trying to fight Tikhanovskaya for the money of the diaspora.

Protasevich added that Tikhanovskaya partly lives at the expense of the Lithuanian state, partly at the expense of some entrepreneurs. She is guarded by the Lithuanian special service.

Andrey Strizhak (BySol Foundation), according to Protasevich, is also not perfect. There were complaints against Strizhak, and they, according to Protasevich, “were clearly not unfounded”. That was when, according to Roman, there was money in the fund, and then it was gone.

In addition, Protasevich said that ByPol, in his opinion, is financed by Poland. Also, according to him, the Polish side gave 50 million zlotys to the Belarusian House in Warsaw.

Then follow details about the NEXTA Telegram channel which was used to direct last summer's demonstrations and riots in Minsk. According to Protasevich that channel has a following in Belarus of 500,000 people "at most".

Protasevich is trying to lower the potential sentence against him:

Roman Protasevich said on the air of ONT that he respects Alexander Lukashenko. At the same time, he believes that some of the decisions of this politician were erroneous.

Protasevich admitted that he “criticized Lukashenka a lot”.

He claims that he realized that many of the things for which the head of state was criticized were an element of pressure. According to Protasevich, Lukashenka acted like a man with eggs of steel.

The financing of the NEXTA channel (translated as 'Nektha') with its extensive staff is discussed next:

On the air of ONT, Roman Protasevich said that initially the Nekhta project (recognized as extremist in Belarus) lived on advertising. The posts cost "good money": for example, $20 thousand. Protasevich's salary could be $1.5 thousand. In August 2020, 5 thousand euros came out.

At some point, according to Protasevich, there was Russian funding: 3-5 thousand euros per week. The money came from a certain company from Russia, which, judging by the name, is associated with the Urals and mining.

Its owner is a well-known Russian oligarch, and he is a direct competitor of Mikhail Gutseriev. Protasevich did not give his last name, but perhaps he means a native of Minsk, Dmitry Mazepin, who actually now controls Uralkali.

Protasevich also said that it was allegedly planned to transfer one of the Nekhta channels to Russian hands.

Roman Protasevich also said that the split in the Nekhta team was due to the figure of the Belarusian political emigration Ales Zarembyuk, who, according to the journalist, used Putilo and the entire project as a “cash cow”.

Now, according to Protasevich, advertising does not appear on "Nekhta", although there are more staff in the editorial office. This, in his opinion, means that someone is supporting the project.

The socialist Belarus has extensive potash resources. That a fertilizer oligarch in neo-liberal Russia is trying to get his hands on it via regime change and privatization is not astonishing.

The next part is about the military coup attempt against Lukashenko which unraveled two months ago:

Roman Protasevich said on the air of ONT that he allegedly almost became a liaison "between the conspirators and the headquarters of Tikhanovskaya." That is, his role was to bring the headquarters together with the defendants in the case of the conspiracy against Lukashenka.

Protasevich claims that he had constant contacts with Dmitry Shchigelsky, who now lives in the United States and they allegedly have a lot in common. Unlike Alexander Feduta and Grigory Kostusev, Shchigelsky was not detained by the Belarusian special services.

Roman also assures that there are “sleeping cells” in Belarus of those who advocate a forceful scenario of overthrowing the current government.

Protasevich also claims that Frank Viacorka was not included in the project for the violent overthrow. Roman believes that he has "too long a tongue."

According to Protasevich, the conspirators talked about some 20 military families who had to be evacuated from Belarus, and they wanted to get large sums from the BySol fund for them, but this did not work out. Protasevich believes that in reality these military men and their families are fiction.

Protasevich then talks about his time with Azov:

...

At the same time, Protasevich says that he was not officially on the staff of "Azov", and not in business "he was mainly engaged in photography." But he was indeed given a light machine gun. However, with him, according to Protasevich, he did not participate in any hostilities, and almost all the time "was at the base." Roman also admits that he violated journalistic ethics.

In addition, Protasevich admitted that he is afraid of some kind of extradition (to which country, it is not clear) and hopes that Alyaksandr Lukashenka will have enough political will not to agree to extradition.

Roman claims that allegedly not so long ago he was on the verge of returning to Belarus himself. He stated that he was cooperating with the investigation and rethought a lot in life. At the end of the interview, Protasevich actually burst into tears. After that, they showed the already separately recorded commentary of the presenter, where he explained that in fact the interview lasted about four hours and not everything was aired on the air.

---
Previous Moon of Alabama post on the Ryanair incident in Belarus:

Posted by b on June 4, 2021 at 11:20 UTC | Permalink

Comments
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"the "truth serum" from the KGB"
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2021/06/04/

Posted by: Xpilgrim | Jun 4 2021 11:41 utc | 1

A new clip not included in the interview, both participants drink some water and joke about the "truth serum" that someone is going to claim is contained in the water bottle ;)

https://t.me/zheltyeslivy/17682

Posted by: Paco | Jun 4 2021 11:47 utc | 2

It still seems more likely Belarus ran this operation, and now they make the guy believe it was his colleagues, and asked him to do an interview. The airport would not have reacted so swiftly to a random email sent to a general email address. Otherwise, you could send any email to any airport at any time and down airplanes. Ridiculous. Also, why should Protonmail have lied about the first email? They knew Minsk could publish it anytime. The "first email" shown in the report likely is fake. Minsk must publish the actual email, and they never will. Why?

Posted by: Zyne | Jun 4 2021 11:53 utc | 3

Meanwhile wannabe journalist and blogger Bryan MacDonald spams his Twitter timeline with allegations that Protasevich was possibly tortured and coerced to confess. What a wacko!

Posted by: v | Jun 4 2021 11:59 utc | 4

I think he knows he was sold down the river, and he intends to get even.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 4 2021 12:15 utc | 5

Well, ain't that bird sing.

He sings a lot.

Posted by: Smith | Jun 4 2021 12:48 utc | 6

"Meanwhile wannabe journalist and blogger Bryan MacDonald spams his Twitter timeline with allegations that Protasevich was possibly tortured and coerced to confess. What a wacko!"

Bryan MacDonald is usually on the better side of things.

But one has to keep in mind that Russia wants Belarus. Russian oligarchs would very much like to eat up the currently state owned Belorussian assets, thank you very much.

The Strategic Culture Foundation, supposedly a Russian outlet, is like Bryan pushing the false 'western' narrative on the Ryanair case with nonsense analysis like this:

Belarus Is Eager to Be Punished for Downing the Ryanair Flight and Nabbing Opposition Blogger

Posted by: b | Jun 4 2021 13:37 utc | 7

Yes, I see a lot of "he's being tortured" now, accompanied by pictures of him crying.

Luka is a more interesting guy than I had thought. He was, prior to all this, trying to do a balancing act between East and West, not unlike Ukraine pre-Maidan. This is pretty normal. He may have been a bit naive, but so have many others been. As Roman says, Luka is not just a suit droid. He has "eggs of steel". I think the final word on him will depend on how well he preserves the Soviet-style economy he has kept running there, while finally joining the "union state".

Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 4 2021 13:56 utc | 8

Incidentally, I am curious why no-one has commented on western hypocrisy when complaining about passengers being endangered (which they definitely were not), in light of the following (from wikipedia):


...he boarded an S7 Airlines commercial flight to Chișinău, where he would meet Moldovan President Igor Dodon, but the Romanian government again denied permission for the plane to enter its airspace, citing the "presence of a sanctioned person on board".[citation needed] The Boeing 737-800 went on a holding pattern in Hungarian airspace for a while,[17] but after Hungary denied permission for landing and ordered the plane to leave, it was decided to divert to Minsk, Belarus, outside of the EU, reportedly with barely enough fuel to reach there.[18] The plane later flew to Chișinău with the remaining passengers, but without Rogozin.[19] The Deputy Prime-Minister later tweeted: "The Romanian authorities endangered the lives of passengers on an S7 flight, women and children. Fuel was [just] enough to [get to] Minsk. ...

where western behavior definitely contravened the Chicago convention and actually endangered passengers...

Posted by: Cosham | Jun 4 2021 14:04 utc | 9

Paco | Jun 4 2021 11:47 utc | 2

Water bottles and truth serum? What no Novachok? (or are there more secrets to be wrung out of his underpants)
*****

Roman can see exactly what would be in store for him if he didn't sing like a canary. Extradition to Donbass or similar.
What will be interesting is to see what the EU and the US will now say to cover up.

Probably the subject will be dropped by the MSM as quickly as possible, BUT the ban on overflying and any other "sanctions" will continue of course.

Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 4 2021 14:16 utc | 10

Former editor-in-chief of NEXTA Roman Protasevich interviewed the Belarusian state channel ONT. In it, he pleaded guilty in a criminal case to organizing and preparing actions that violate public order, and also criticized the Belarusian opposition and said he respected Alexander Lukashenko.

---

So funny. MofA cites this without even the slightest acknowledgement of whether it might have been coerced. That's why it is a conspiracy theory website rather than a source of legitimate news.

Posted by: Louis N Proyect | Jun 4 2021 14:18 utc | 11

My thinking was wrong (once again): Protasevich is smarter than he looks. I thought he'll just accept what happened to him in a sacrifice-for-the-greater-good kind of way, but it seems like he isn't happy with recent events and wants to lash back. Not that it'll improve Belarus' standing in the west: it'll be just "Dictator Luka Is At It Again" (a lost cause anyway: you just can't reason people out of something they weren't reasoned into).

I wonder how much action we'll see in the near future in reaction to the info Protasevich may or may not have disclosed (I'd say it'd be naive to think this interview - including the parts not shown - is everything he told Belarussian authorities) -- am I right in assuming it's still pretty much unknown just how important he was?

Posted by: pachinko | Jun 4 2021 14:26 utc | 12

It's called 'remorse and repentance', dear Louis. Remorse, repentance, and regretting the past errors of one's ways. I'm sure KGB officers can be extremely convincing.

Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jun 4 2021 14:35 utc | 13

Torture is infamous for extracting False Confessions, not chat and smoke sessions. Coercion would be the typical "Listen you've got some serious charges against you that could put you away for a long time. You think your girlfriend is going to wait for you? Make it easier on yourself and tell us what you know. Your cooperation will reduce your jail time."

The kid is a cog in a machine. Cogs are massed produced by propaganda.

Posted by: gottlieb | Jun 4 2021 14:41 utc | 14

Posted by: Louis N Proyect | Jun 4 2021 14:18 utc | 11

He could be but based on the TV appearance he appears comfortable for most of the time speaking each segment to the next clearly without any clear visible coerced directive or confusion in his part. If you want to compare try watching PM Saad Hariri in Saudi TV interview after his apparent kidnapping.

Besides while it's possible they do force out directed messages it's also true he could've also spill the beans honestly after apparent betrayal by his colleagues. All they need to do now is to confirm or let the peoples names he had spoke of speak for themselves.

After all he spill a lot of information there that need further investigation.

Posted by: Lucci | Jun 4 2021 14:47 utc | 15

He looks and talks like an educated invididual, doesn't seem like the usual brainwashed zealout.

Still, he fucking looks like Micheal Myers, the Halloween man, kinda creepy.

Posted by: Smith | Jun 4 2021 14:48 utc | 16

@14 Quite right. That kind of coercion is standard practice. It's called plea-bargaining in some quarters.

Posted by: dh | Jun 4 2021 14:52 utc | 17

The fact that he has no lawyer or some sort of legal service representing him and talking on his behalf is the only thing you need to know about his position.
You are really nobody there. Scary show.

Posted by: hopehely | Jun 4 2021 15:28 utc | 18

@ hopehely

Oddly, he's safe inside Luka's protection, he will be kept alive just for the info and PR.

If he somehow "escapes", he will probably get into a deathly unfortunate accident very quick and Luka will be blamed, I'm sure of it.

Posted by: Smith | Jun 4 2021 15:32 utc | 19

#10 Stonebird: Yes, it is LNR/DNR he wants to not go to. That is what he is being "coerced" with. As things stand now, where he is is the safest place he could be, Belarus will keep him around and healthy too. Maybe LNR/DNR sent the emails.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 4 2021 15:53 utc | 20

thanks b - and paco for drawing our attention to this..

i agree with @ 5 bemildred, @14 gottlieb and @19 smith...

what i find interesting is this person Mikhail Gutseriyev that b connects the dots to state... the wikipedia page on him is quite interesting.. he is very into music..

perhaps some barflys would like to comment on how putin works with a guy like this?? for those interested in bitcoin and etc - financial matters - check this out...

to quote from the wikipedia link - "In 2017 Slavkaliy, another company owned by Gutseriev started to construct a potash complex in Belarus worth US$2.1 bn. This is the greatest project being implemented by a private company in the CIS countries. The company owned by Gutseriev constructed Renaissance Hotel in Minsk. Mikhail Gutseriev also owns the business aviation terminal in the capital’s airport and former leisure center of the Presidents Administration Office “Krasnoselskoye”, transformed into the reception house.

In December 2017 Mikhail Gutseriev actively participated in approving the Decree No. 8 on the development of digital economy, which set a regulatory basis for a revolutionary IT development in the Republic of Belarus. The Decree included Innovative Laws, regulating in particular block chain and cryptocurrency technologies. Belarus became the first country in the world which legalized Smart contracts.

In January 2019, the first cryptocurrency exchange in the CIS countries was launched in Belarus under the above mentioned Decree. The investors in the project are Mikhail Gutseriev's son Said Gutseriev and technology entrepreneur Viktor Prokopenya.[25] The exchange allows trading and investing into traditional financial instruments using the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum. Currency.com became the first professional player at the cryptocurrency market in Russia.[26][27]

In January 2020, during another “oil conflict” between Minsk and Moscow, only Gutseriev`s companies provided the Russian oil before signing the contracts with the major suppliers. Herewith with that the volume of oil deliveries to Belarus by the companies owned by Gutseriev exceeded 500 thous. tons monthly, that is to say 25% of the total volume of oil deliveries to the Republic of Belarus.

Mikhail Gutseriev is the author of a monograph and an array of research publications on free economic free economic zones and offshore business issues in Russia.[28]

Since childhood Gutseriev has played music (violin, piano), and currently writes verses.[5] He is fluent in English."

Posted by: james | Jun 4 2021 15:54 utc | 21

Protasevich also said that it was allegedly planned to transfer one of the Nekhta channels to Russian hands.

This is either an incorrect translation or an incorrect summary. Protasevich said there were plans to switch the main Nekhta (NEXTA) channel to “Russian agenda”, i.e. to start posting anti-Russian/anti-Putin stuff, as the channel had lots of subscribers from Russia. He was strongly against the plan, as Nekhta was one of the main media assets of the Belarusian regime changers. Later discussion was about making a separate Nekhta-branded channel for Russia.

This episode must have been important in making Protasevich realize he’s not really “fighting for democracy” in Belarus, but is a mere cog in Washington’s Drang nach Osten 2.0 machine.

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 16:04 utc | 22

@ Smith
Yes, he is on mercy of Potato Stalin.
That gestapo crap is scarier than fiction.

Posted by: hopehely | Jun 4 2021 16:05 utc | 23

Posted by: james | Jun 4 2021 15:54 utc | 21

Thanks, that's interesting. More to see in Belarus than one might think,

Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 4 2021 16:09 utc | 24

@Zyne #3:

The airport would not have reacted so swiftly to a random email sent to a general email address.

In reality, that is exactly what airports, train stations, shopping malls, universities and just about any large buildings/facilities do. They act as if the threat is real.

There was a huge wave of fake bomb threats against Russian targets a few years ago. Shopping malls and government buildings were evacuated almost every day. Many threats came via Protonmail, which is the reason it was ultimately banned in Russia.

Otherwise, you could send any email to any airport at any time and down airplanes. Ridiculous.

That is indeed what you can do:

Ryanair: Dublin flight diverted due to security threat (BBC, May 31, 2021)

Expect legal consequences, though.

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 16:17 utc | 25

Bellingcat says a selective highly-edited version of the interview clearly shows Protasevich blinking his eyes in morse code: T-O-R-T-U-R-E
(sarc)

Posted by: jayc | Jun 4 2021 16:27 utc | 26

@Louis N Proyect #11:

MofA cites this without even the slightest acknowledgement of whether it might have been coerced.

Meanwhile, in reality…

Paragraph 9:

'Western' media, as well as other regime change activist claim that Protasevich must have been tortured to say what he says. However, aside from light handcuff marks at his wrists there is no evidence of that.

Paragraph 12:

Protasevich's demeanor, engagement, body language and general attitude throughout the interview has me convinced that he doing it voluntarily and that he is telling the truth. He is not reading off a script someone else has written. He is doing a tell all about the foreign financed regime change effort he had been part of. And why not? He has been betrayed by his former comrades. He is now expecting up to fifteen years of jail. Telling it all might well help him to lessen the sentence for his crimes.

Louis Proyect is a shameless liar.

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 16:34 utc | 27

Tortured confession or singing after being snitched on? Nobody here knows for sure.

What we do know is; this story makes sense.

Ratting Roman Protasevich out is consistent with SOP of the Langley/Langley-acolyte crowd; back in the day OSS field agents complained of being burned by the agency's well placed cadre of Nazi infiltrators. It's hard to imagine that the practice of compromising assets/floaters has gone away.

Posted by: S Brennan | Jun 4 2021 16:36 utc | 28

@james #21:

what i find interesting is this person Mikhail Gutseriyev that b connects the dots to state...

Protasevich talks about a competitor of Gutseriev, not Gutseriev himself. The competitor’s name is Dmitriy Mazepin.

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 16:38 utc | 29

Jeez. I’ve always looked at this web-site as an important source, but this is bullshit. Is it really possible to look at the video with Protasevich as a proof og what really happened? I mean, what do you think is the purpose when this video is made public. And why is this guy suddenly regretting and confessing? Because he suddenly realized what a great guy Lukashenko is? How naive is it possible to be? What Lukashenko did with the Ryanair was by no means ok, no matter what US did in 2014. Lukashenko is a real bas-ass. Yes, those actually exists all over the world, not only in the US. And the last year he has turned into a real old fashioned junta-dictator. Even Putin hates him. Don’t protect this idiot.

Posted by: Dunkan | Jun 4 2021 16:42 utc | 30

Dunc
don't kill the messenger

Posted by: ld | Jun 4 2021 16:50 utc | 31

@ S | Jun 4 2021 16:38 utc | 29

thanks for correcting me on that and for your other posts... here is the wiki page on Dmitry Mazepin can you tell me how russia under putin works with these types of oligarchs - mikhail gutserijev and dmitry mazepin? it seems to me russia is run by oligarchs and putin has very little control over them.. what is your take on this? thanks..

@ 30 dunkan... do others a favour and read the other threads that have led up to this... otherwise you look like another version of yuk yuk the proyect guy..

Posted by: james | Jun 4 2021 16:55 utc | 32

@Dunken

You do not seem to be a regular MoA reader. You otherwise would have read the six previous posts on the issue which discussed the evidence in detail and concluded that the narrative - that Lukashenko did something to the Ryanair flight - is false.

There was a real bomb threat and Belarus reacted to that by the book. The Ryanair pilot and his company decided to go to Minsk. Belarus did not know that Protasevich was on board. He was only arrested after passing through passport control.

The last but one will probably of most help for you.

Posted by: b | Jun 4 2021 16:59 utc | 33

Boris Rozhin’s summary of Protasevich’s ONT interview (my translation):

1. There are plans to switch Nekhta [NEXTA] to the Russian agenda.

2. Tikhanovskaya is financed from various sources, including the Lithuanian budget, diaspora money, etc.

3. The opposition of Belarus is controlled by Poland and Lithuania (which I wrote about back in August, calling it the "Polish-Lithuanian opposition"). In Poland, it is controlled by the Prime Minister of Poland.

4. Putilo is an ungrateful pig. He received the Sakharov Prize for the work done by Protasevich.

5. One advertising post on Nekhta in August 2020 cost $20,000.

6. The main specialists in the Belarusian opposition are money laundering specialists.

7. Nekhta did not come up with an information agenda - it was communicated to it from the top. In the building where Nekhta was located there were secret rooms where Nekhta’s employees were not allowed.

8. The real ceiling of the Belarusian Telegram is about 1,000,000 people. The real audience of the opposition Telegram channels is 500,000 people.

9. A Russian oligarch competing with Gutseriev and connected with Ural was involved in financing Nekhta.

10. Protasevich believes that the opposition has lost and there will be no new serious protests at this stage.

11. Protasevich is afraid that he may be extradited to the LPR and very much hopes that Lukashenko will not allow that.

12. He now considers his trip to Donbass to “Azov” to be the biggest mistake of his life. He denies being a member of Azov.

13. Protasevich is grateful that he ended up in his native Belarus, and even alive.

14. The conspirators planning the assassination of Lukashenko were connected with Tikhanovskaya’s HQ. Protasevich acted as one of the mediators. He participated in conspirators’ zoom calls.

15. There are still sleeping combat groups and caches of weapons in Belarus, which have not yet been discovered by the KGB.

16. Protasevich fully cooperates with the investigation and is ready to continue providing valuable information in order to correct his mistakes.

17. He no longer wants to engage in politics, asks everyone for forgiveness and hopes that things will not turn out as badly for him as they could.

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 17:01 utc | 34

@S - "Louis Proyect is a shameless liar."

Not news to anyone who was unfortunate enough to have to read some of that dude's pamphlets.

Posted by: b | Jun 4 2021 17:01 utc | 35

Nazis betrayed one of their own when he became a liability?!?

What is the world coming to?!? After all this has never happened before!

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jun 4 2021 17:07 utc | 36

Re Proyect:

I have earlier referred to the Canadistani propagandamonger Gwynne Dyer. This bag of hirsute fat predictably wrote a column condemning Lukashenko and not mentioning Protasevich's Azov past at all. Strangely the article seems to have now disappeared from the net. At least I couldn't find it again.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jun 4 2021 17:11 utc | 37

'Protasevich also claims that Frank Viacorka was not included in the project for the violent overthrow. Roman believes that he has "too long a tongue."'

What? Did you read Viacorka's bio and the Tweet from his account that b posted previously? Viacorka is surely involved. Protasevich must be afraid of that guy.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 4 2021 17:26 utc | 38

No need to torture him. He was sold out by his rivals and he faces extradition and a lengthy jail sentence even if he isn’t extradited. He’s going to sell as many people down the river as he possibly can as revenge/save his own skin.

Loyalty to the people who betrayed him? Not happening.


Posted by: Down South | Jun 4 2021 17:29 utc | 39

Sociopaths are not capable of loyalty-- they sell their services to whoever promotes them and undercut whoever is in their way. The only way to find out if this guy is talking straight is to release him. I hope they don't. If his story is mostly true we'll see a deterioration of the anti Belarus/anti Russian forces.

Posted by: migueljose | Jun 4 2021 17:37 utc | 40

@ Posted by: Dunkan | Jun 4 2021 16:42 utc | 30

I agree with the blogger's assessment over the veracity of the interview.

Protasevich is clearly revising the story to make himself appear to be small fish in the whole scheme (to get a lighter sentence and also to open the remote possibility to get redeployed as a Belarusian asset), but his description of the whole scheme itself and the people involved is probably true in the general.

Those mercenaries - specially those liberal (fascist) ideologues - have, by nature, very low morale. They want a lot of money and comfort for their services, and have a very low tolerance for hardship. They also lack long-term vision, so they tend to be very greedy. Betrayal and surrender are very common among them, if you manage to hit back a little bit and/or capture them: one night at a prison cell without any luxuries already is enough.

Tortured people usually don't have the physical and mental capacity to tell such a detailed, colored and nonchalant confessions. Even if the confessor is a trained actor, it's impossible, as torture is designed to destroy the spirit/personality of the tortured. That's why confessions under torture are all in written form, just with the signature of the "confessor". The few confessions under torture are very short ones, recorded in a simple, front camera angle, with the tortured clearly physically and mentally spent, in a depressive mood/tone.

Posted by: vk | Jun 4 2021 17:41 utc | 41

I find this intreview on public television of a person who has been arrested deeply disturbing.
Anyone under arrest can be considered to be in circumstances of coercion, pressure, not free.
It is highly unethical to broadcast a confession of a person under arrest.

Regardless of whether Protashevich was telling the truth, and what his motives may have been,
this interview should not have been broadcast.Chilling!

Posted by: JB | Jun 4 2021 17:44 utc | 42

I must admit, i had a chuckle hearing about Uralkali's Mr Mazepin's alleged Belaurus plans falling through... some may be familiar with his son Nikita's equally frustrating 2021 at the helm of his father's sponsored and de facto owned Haas Formula One team:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo9azvPA5O8

Speaking of Formula One, what an interesting mix of sponsors they have today, from Uralkali to Saudi Aramco and Crowdstrike, famous for its deceptive Russiagate collusion with the Clinton server saga and subsequent debunking when finally put under oath, yet proudly promoted by none other than 7 x World Champ and champion of woke BLM 'we need more black drivers in a tax-dodging billionaire sport to signal real progress in society' Sir Lewis Hamilton:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sq5hshawx4

Priceless.

Posted by: Et Tu | Jun 4 2021 17:46 utc | 43

B says this is a tough guy. Looks soft to me. Looks pampered and privileged. I do not have a word of Slavic, still see Protasevich busy manipulating and negotiating from beginning to end. Guy can’t stop scheming. He has not been tortured. He has not been broken. He is not fearful.

Cuffs were tight against wristbone. Briefly. The more usual way to stop someone from slipping the cuffs is to tape back the thumbs. Some officers do not believe that sufficient. They want a pain signal to interfere with fine coordination. Maybe they had cuffs, were low on supplies, did not have good enough duct tape handy. In totally normal custody wrists can look far worse than that. Slipping cuffs is a manipulation that any con can teach to a willing student quite quickly. The way prisoners are seen cuffed on the TV is what gets used on zero risk prisoners. Or prisoners who are broken, who have learned to cooperate with the routine.

I have spent a lifetime observing Slavic immigrants to Chicago. This is destination #1. Most come to work. They still have three buckets of attitude, and then they work. Then there is a big cadre of those who have heard that Americans are gullible and easy to con. This guy looks exactly like one of them. Most of those come from privileged backgrounds. I do not understand how privilege survived the Comintern years. But it did. A former Polish landlady of mine grew up in 60s and 70s in the family manor. Sure the roof was falling in. They still had the manor hall, the outbuildings, the tenants who no longer had any legal obligation still gave deference, did service, brought offerings. When the Wall came down she promptly went to court and reclaimed title to the 1939 estate. Then started proceedings to get back the 1914 estate. Class never dies. I see a child of privilege.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 4 2021 17:51 utc | 44

Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 4 2021 17:51 utc | 44

You should watch the Russian film "The Brother II", not as good as the first one by far, but since the first was a no budget project filmed with outdated stock and at friends houses, - up to this day is a very influential film that best describes Russia's meltdown of the 90's-, for the second version they had money, so they went to Chicago to film the second iteration, by my favorite director the late Balabanov. Easy to find with subtitles. The slavic -mainly Ukrainian- Chicago community has a big role to play in it.

Posted by: Paco | Jun 4 2021 18:02 utc | 45

Years back I knew one counter insurgency specials with whom I had always interesting conversations.

One of funny things he told me - best way to make someone spill beans is to raid their house, then let them know their neighbor ratted them out for some thing. More often than not, suspect would start to sing "Me has/did xxx? That bastard, he did even worse yyyy!"

So, theory that Belorussian (or Russian or anyone there) calling in that bomb threat, then convincing the guy that it was his people that sold him out - that theory hold water a lot more than other one.

Posted by: Abe | Jun 4 2021 18:24 utc | 46

Paco @ 45

Just watched 5 minutes of that. All I can say right now is that it is brilliant moviemaking. On the short list

Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 4 2021 18:42 utc | 47

As expected, the EU has it's own plan, which does not take into account the truth. Carry on regardless, as the real objective is the Belarusian "regime change".

https://www.rt.com/russia/525683-eu-bans-belarusian-carriers-airspace/

******

oldhippie | Jun 4 2021 17:51 utc | 44

As you say, he looks as if he thinks he "could zap the chain" if he feels too constricted by the programme. There is virtually no trauma.

****

Any news about the girl friend?

Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 4 2021 18:43 utc | 48

@ stonebird 10 and 48... it is true what you say.. the eu doesn't give a flying fuck about the truth of the matter.. it is determined to continue on with its own special form of oppression and support for the dictates of those pushing this agenda... if they can't control belarus, they will try to take it down any way they can - and ignore the facts as they come available... write the narrative and stick with the original narrative in spite of the reality on the ground... eu is a real political stooge at this point..

Posted by: james | Jun 4 2021 18:59 utc | 49

Looking at the downvote ratio, mine included, it appears even Germany's propagandised Handesblatt viewers aren't buying into the selective and deceptive by omission reporting of the German media.

Here's the emotionally repentant, hapless Nexta-bro's teary moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS5wvuVyMKI

Posted by: Et Tu | Jun 4 2021 19:08 utc | 50

At some point, according to Protasevich, there was Russian funding: 3-5 thousand euros per week. The money came from a certain company from Russia, which, judging by the name, is associated with the Urals and mining.

Its owner is a well-known Russian oligarch, and he is a direct competitor of Mikhail Gutseriev. Protasevich did not give his last name, but perhaps he means a native of Minsk, Dmitry Mazepin, who actually now controls Uralkali.

Dmitry Mazepin also owns the US American Formula one team Uralkali Haas F1 Team, where his son Nikita is one of the drivers https://www.formula1.com/en/drivers/nikita-mazepin.html (the son of Michael Schumacher, Mick Schumacher is the other).

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 4 2021 19:11 utc | 51

louis the projector @ 11
This is a Stalinist show trial!
i suppose it's good that he pops in here at times and thereby takes a break from his day job of boring people to death with his ad nauseam film reviews.

again, why is he posted at Counterpunch? Did A Cockburn post The Project back in the day?
------
i suppose most of us can agree that typically it's not good for criminals to be confessing on TV, that doing so is by nature coercive. but this is not exactly shoplifting, is it? for which in the US you get more punishment than he'll likely get in Belarus.

it's too bad he didn't pull an OJ Simpson 1st, in some big ass SUV. Americans might pay more attention then.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 4 2021 19:25 utc | 52

During the Korea war U.S. pilots, captured by China, admitted to dropping biological weapons on China. The U.S. long denied the use of biological weapons and claimed that the pilots had been tortured and made false confessions. Decades later secret files were released which proved that the claims the pilots had made had been correct.

Yes b, this kinds of denials of wicked deeds by the use of Empire's propaganda outlets happened over and over again, and to be revealed over and over again decades later. Those soul-less players do this over and over again because there is no cost ever and ever. People just shrug and say "oh well...." and the matter is under the rug.

But it didn't have to be that way if us as human beings are sincere in our vow to correct the wicked and punish. The biological warfare against China in Korea wasn't revealed until decades later, but many of the culprits involved with these deeds were still alive and living well those decades later too. These soul-less animals could have been brought to account if the people of the Empire are sincere about the values we hold to be important. But heck, we are happy, oh all so happy, to let the matters rest, over and over again. Truman/Dulles/Eisenhouer knew this. Clinton/Albright knew this. Bush/Obama/Trump know this. Biden/Harris/Blinken know this. And all these wicked souls live happily hereafter.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Jun 4 2021 19:28 utc | 53

rjb1.5 @ 52

https://www.counterpunch.org/author/lp/page/7/

1 article in 2004, 3 in '05. A Cockburn died 21/07/12 (or 7/12/21 in Amerikkkastan) and then nothing's gonna stop the Project now. no doubt i just don't savor what is "caviar to the general".

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 4 2021 19:39 utc | 54

@ Norwegian 51 - Dmitry Mazepin... I wonder if he is a distant relative of Ivan Mazepa? Another betrayer. Слава Уралки!

Ivan Mazepa from Quora

I am not sure how reliable Quora is, but the headline was good...

Posted by: lex talionis | Jun 4 2021 19:41 utc | 55

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 16:17 utc | 25

No, most of these "threats" aren't taken seriously. Only if there is some indication they might be real (intelligence/police) are they acted upon immediately.

This blog or any other site still haven't presented any evidence showing that the first email claimed by Minsk was real, or that the opposition knew beforehand what was going to happen.

Posted by: U2 | Jun 4 2021 19:50 utc | 56

@lex talionis | Jun 4 2021 19:41 utc | 55

I have no way of knowing, but from your link: In 1708, when Peter I invited Mazepa to join the Russian army against the Swedes, Mazepa made his choice and ran to the camp of Carl XII, the Swedish King.

Carl XII also invaded Norway in 1718 and received a bullet to his head for doing so.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 4 2021 19:52 utc | 57


Posted by: Abe | Jun 4 2021 18:24 utc | 46

"So, theory that Belorussian (or Russian or anyone there) calling in that bomb threat, then convincing the guy that it was his people that sold him out - that theory hold water a lot more than other one."

Exactly.

Posted by: U2 | Jun 4 2021 19:53 utc | 58

Oh, come on! If bursting out in an interview were normal!

Posted by: m | Jun 4 2021 19:56 utc | 59

@ rjb1.5 | Jun 4 2021 19:39 utc | 54 :

Try this. For some reason he has two author pages; the one I'm linking has his current/weekly "contributions."

Posted by: corvo | Jun 4 2021 20:00 utc | 60

@ U2 | Jun 4 2021 19:53 utc | 58 and m | Jun 4 2021 19:56 utc | 59 who need to flesh out their rock throwing delusions a bit more if they expect MoA barflies to believe them.

just saying......

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 4 2021 20:01 utc | 61

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 4 2021 20:01 utc | 61

Poor Roman looked like he was kept in a room with no windows but with a great stereo system, powerful amp, huge speakers, Metallica playing full blast for a couple of days non stop. Bloody gringos, how easy to virtue signal every body else on this earth and forget about the guy in Abu Ghraib with the cables attached to his cojones. Torturing gets you nowhere, Roman guy is no fool and knows his best chance is shortening the long sentence awaiting him, but the KGB is even smarter and they are going to take care of that gift from heaven with velvet gloves.

Yes, the shitshow goes on.. until...

Posted by: Paco | Jun 4 2021 20:09 utc | 62

It is likely that Protasevich would not know with certainty who trapped him.
So I think it unlikely that he would burn his bridges so willingly.
He would have to appear to be willingly divulging everything he knows, but even if he does it is likely it will be suspected that he is fabricating parts or witholding information.
A difficult situation.

The analysis includes assumptions which lead to a goal-seeked conclusion.
A common tendency.

Posted by: jared | Jun 4 2021 20:19 utc | 63

What benefit would it bring to his cohorts to have him captured by Luka?
Often the simple solution is the correct one.

Posted by: jared | Jun 4 2021 20:53 utc | 64

Posted by: jared | Jun 4 2021 20:19 utc | 63

Burn what bridges? Is he going to need a bridge in the near future? It seems he may have had a very good guess the way he fingered Bogdanovich.

Posted by: bluedotterel | Jun 4 2021 20:57 utc | 65

Posted by: jared | Jun 4 2021 20:53 utc | 64

With this I agree. There are easier ways to remove someone from the scene - See Seth Rich

Posted by: bluedotterel | Jun 4 2021 20:58 utc | 66

James @ 21 and onwards:

I recall reading online that when Putin first became President in 2000, he more or less struck an understanding or a "deal" with the "oligarchs" at the time, that they could keep their billions and do what they wanted as long as they stayed out of politics and paid their taxes. During the Yeltsin era, "oligarchs" were buying politicians and, in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, even buying political parties.

After Putin made an example of Khodorkovsky by having him jailed for 10 years, and had Roman Abramovich made governor of Chukotka (near Bering Sea) in the Russian Far East, the others either fell into line or fled to Britain.

The current situation seems about the same: Moscow allows Russian business magnates to carry on wheeling and dealing as long as they operate within Russian law. Putin does not run the country as his personal fiefdom. It is true very large investment projects costing billions will come to Putin's attention and he will want to meet the people directing these projects to see what their objectives are but that would be no more and no less of what we'd expect of our own politicians if they are capable people interested and curious about what is going on in the countries they govern.

It would seem also that China allows its business magnates to operate more or less independently except where they threaten to overstep Chinese laws concerning state control, as in the case of Jack Ma's arrest concerning issues of intellectual ownership (I'm vague on the details of Ma's arrest so barflies can correct if I am wrong), and Russia may be observing what the Chinese are doing in creating a mixed economy.

Posted by: Jen | Jun 4 2021 21:15 utc | 67

Posted by: U2 | Jun 4 2021 19:50 utc | 56

No, most of these "threats" aren't taken seriously. Only if there is some indication they might be real (intelligence/police) are they acted upon immediately.

This blog or any other site still haven't presented any evidence showing that the first email claimed by Minsk was real, or that the opposition knew beforehand what was going to happen.

The email was a hoax, but it contained a real bomb threat that needed to be taken seriously. It was thus one step above a prank.

What made the threat real was the information about the passengers. It is prima face evidence that the threat came from an intelligence service, a terrorist group or from an insider. All of these would be capable of carrying out the threat.

Accessing information on the passenger list is costly. For a hostile agency or terrorist group it would mean exposing human agents to exposure or capture. For example, if Belarus had been behind the email, they could have sent an agent to Athens to make sure Protasevich had boarded the flight. Greek police would have video footage of him from tens of surveillance cameras.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 4 2021 21:20 utc | 68

Bluedotterel @ 65, 66:

I recall reading Sergei Nemtsov was killed on or near a bridge in Moscow. Bridges are good locations for topping someone who may need state protection for the rest of his life. I think Protasevich will need such protection and he may come to realise Russia offers more protection than Belarus can.

Posted by: Jen | Jun 4 2021 21:22 utc | 69

Why the elaborate scheme to get rid of Nazi-boy when the Seth Rich solution is more efficient? The CIA and their attack dogs have always preferred drama when disposing of one of their own. Think of Boris Nemtsov, for instance. When a regime change "asset" starts to become a liability then there is always one final act in the play for them, which is to appear to die in the most memorable way at the hands of the empire's enemies. With Nemtsov: murdered in the perfect spot with Saint Basil's Cathedral as the backdrop - one of the few iconic visuals in Russia that any American could identify as Russian.

But what about Nazi-boy? How to kill him in a way to get the TV audience's attention and get them to automatically associate it with Belarus? Americans know absolutely nothing about Belarus. There is no pre-existing imagery in their empty little heads to connect with Belarus. They could not even use novichok because even the well-conditions American mass media consumers would get suspicious, or at least confused, because they expect that to be something to do with Russia.

No, the sky piracy nonsense was the best the western narrative spinners could cook up to get the media consumers' attention directed to Belarus.

Americans have become too jaded these days. They need drama in their brainwashing or it just won't take.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 4 2021 21:24 utc | 70

"can you tell me how russia under putin works with these types of oligarchs - mikhail gutserijev and dmitry mazepin? it seems to me russia is run by oligarchs and putin has very little control over them.."

James @32

Under Yeltsin, the oligarchs owned the Russian state, and they shamelessly stripped assets out of enterprises yeltsin gave them, dodged taxes, and offshored the proceeds.

Russia was helpless, bankrupt, & dying off by 1m/yr.

Now, the State owns the oligarchs. Branko Milanovic below compares and contrasts:

https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/04/07/2019/oligarchs-and-oligarchs

Money quote:
"The Putin oligarchs are billionaires which “serve” at the discretion of the state. As a Russian commentator once said, they should all consider themselves to be temporary custodians of their wealth. If they fall from grace with the regime they could be stripped of their assets either through dubious legal proceedings, or if needed, more forcefully by being imprisoned.

The original kind of Yeltsin-type oligarchs, which “popularized” the term, were different. These oligarchs owned the state—so the state existed only at their discretion. At the peak of their power, after Yeltsin’s reelection in 1996 which they helped him win (in the deal that led to the infamous “loans for shares” trade) oligarchs, separately, controlled Yeltsin and practically most of the levers of state power. Since they also jockeyed for power amongst themselves with some being allied with the military, others controlling natural monopolies, and the third group having their own media, Russia at the end of the 1990s was a country on the verge of a civil war. It stood not so far from where Libya stands today. Under that “regime”, life expectancy fell from 69 to 64.5 years, the largest decline in life expectancy ever recorded in peacetime. It was today’s US opiate crisis multiplied by ten or more.

Russia was a county ruled, to borrow Mancur Olson’s terminology, by roving bandits. What Putin accomplished through reining in of the roving bandit oligarchs was to create a system of stationary bandits whose wealth depends on proximity to the state and who, like every stationary bandit, have more of an interest in the strength of the state and the welfare of its population—simply because such welfare is more closely intertwined with theirs.

It is in that sense that Putin’s oligarchs represent an improvement. Since foreign commentators do not have to live in countries on whose democratic records they expatiate, they are often wont to confound the two types of oligarchs. But for people who have to live under the two alternative regimes (roving or stationary bandits) the choice is rather simple.

It is a choice of living in a state of incipient civil war where you do not know what might happen to your children in school, where you could be randomly beaten up in the street, abducted by different private militias, or evicted from your home by one mafia today and another tomorrow. Indeed, the same things can happen under the centralized kleptocratic regime (such as Putin’s), but there these things happen with certain “logic” and “order”. Differently put, punishment is exacted for political disobedience and the rules of conduct are well known. In the system of disorderly roving bandits, punishment can be meted out randomly, or can be done for entirely different actions or reasons—some of which may displease one baron/bandit but not another. Under that chaotic system, violence can come from any direction, for any reason, and at any time.

To the outside observers, the system of random violence—because foreign observers are exempt from it, as indeed foreigners were exempt during Russia’s “decade of humiliation”—might seem more democratic. There are indeed alternative centers of power in competition with each other, there is freedom of speech, each media empire owned by one baron attacks the media empire owned by another baron, and there thus appears to be a political life despite absence of a rule of law, rampant corruption, and physical insecurity. The system of stationary bandits is monochromatic by comparison but for people who live under it more predictable and much safer.

The truth is that large part of the world’s population has only a choice between these two systems: between multi-original kleptocracy and anarchy, and more centrally controlled enrichment. There is no surprise that most ordinary people will select stability over chaos, predictable violence over random violence, and some administration of justice over none. "

Posted by: rkka | Jun 4 2021 21:33 utc | 71

Infighting, intrigue, and corruption have been a feature of emigre reactionary opposition groups since ... forever.
See the royalists during the french revolution, the Russian whites, the Miami Cubans, Guaido crew and so on. The emigres themselves are economically unstable being removed from their previous 'holdings' but then also showered with money by supporters (ie Lith and Pole govt) on an ad hoc basis... leads naturally to corruption. They often end up fighting with each other over the money and love of their backers more than opposing their own country's govt.

That faced with a long prison term, Roman would make the calculation that the Belo-emigre community was sunk already and try to rescue the best outcome for himself. not surprising.

Also historically these emigre groups have always had people who got fed up with the emigre opposition life, and if they could, negotiate a safe return to their country.

Posted by: kons | Jun 4 2021 21:37 utc | 72

James @ 21 and onwards:

Of course, now you know why so many Russian business magnates buy foreign football clubs and put so much of their money promoting elite sports and cultural and arts organisations overseas.😀

It's really neither here nor there that such individuals might be interested in music. Gutseriev is probably of a generation of Soviet children who were exposed to classical music education and music education generally to a much greater extent than Western children were over 30 years ago. Being of Jewish background in Soviet times would make this exposure even more likely.

You would be well aware of how the CIA promoted particular art and cultural movements like abstract art in the past, and how US and other Western govts, especially the British, still use artists, musicians and film-makers as their foot soldiers.

Posted by: Jen | Jun 4 2021 21:39 utc | 73

Re my comment @ 69: Sorry, it's Boris Nemtsov, not Sergei.

Posted by: Jen | Jun 4 2021 21:41 utc | 74

Posted by: jared | Jun 4 2021 20:19 utc | 63

It is likely that Protasevich would not know with certainty who trapped him.
So I think it unlikely that he would burn his bridges so willingly.
He would have to appear to be willingly divulging everything he knows, but even if he does it is likely it will be suspected that he is fabricating parts or witholding information.
A difficult situation.

The analysis includes assumptions which lead to a goal-seeked conclusion.
A common tendency.

It is OK for Protasevich to rat out his opposition colleagues, but he would be much more careful about exposing the CIA handlers, who are the real brain of the operation.

The full story may not be know yet. This is the way the narrative changes.

  1. MiG-29s intercepted the flight and Belarus thugs dragged the screaming Protasevich from the plane.
  2. Lukashenko and his KGB sent the hoax email to themselves, causing everything to happen.
  3. Belarus acted by the book. It must have been evil Putin who sent the hoax email.
  4. The whole thing was just a blunder caused by opposition infighting and incompetence. <- We are now here.
  5. The operation was a false-flag provocation planned and executed by Western intelligence services. The opposition figures are just puppets used and abused to give the operation a human face.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 4 2021 21:44 utc | 75

And so ends the short chapter in our ongoing Saga. IMO, it's quite apt that his given name is Roman since the majority of our current crises are related to that Imperial Era despite its having ended @1500 years ago. The police/KGB will continue their work and rollup much of the traitors, mostly small-fry unfortunately. As we've seen, bomb threats aimed at airplanes are not at all rare, which is why there's a well rehearsed set of international procedures to deal with them, a fact the Narrative Dreamers clearly forgot. One of the big lessons for those not initiated ought to be the lack of veracity of any media linked to the West--all of them lied and lied again, and yet again--and they're still lying--all in the service of Imperialism. And if they'll lie about that, they'll lie about anything--and I mean anything. And the Trolls that post commentary merely serve to confirm the above.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 4 2021 21:50 utc | 76

Xpilgrim #1

Truth serum ????

Well at least it is more successful than novichok plus it works immediately not hours or weeks later ;)

Thanks b. I get the feeling that we are seeing the first act of a long and challenging series for the West to 'digest'. Poland! and its totally corrupt political class - it just floats to the top every time. Perhaps we might see a reverse novichok series of revelations :))

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 4 2021 21:55 utc | 77

@ b | Jun 4 2021 17:01 utc | 35

I find it very curious that Louis uses conspiracy theorists as a device, since I recall from his articles in CounterPunch during the Trump Regime, he fell for Russiagate hook line and sinker. It was very difficult to read his stuff without falling down laughing.

Posted by: Michael | Jun 4 2021 21:55 utc | 78

Petri Krohn #75

The full story may not be know yet. This is the way the narrative changes.

MiG-29s intercepted the flight and Belarus thugs dragged the screaming Protasevich from the plane.
Lukashenko and his KGB sent the hoax email to themselves, causing everything to happen.
Belarus acted by the book. It must have been evil Putin who sent the hoax email.
The whole thing was just a blunder caused by opposition infighting and incompetence. <- We are now here.
The operation was a false-flag provocation planned and executed by Western intelligence services. The opposition figures are just puppets used and abused to give the operation a human face.

Thank you, that seems about it. If the revelations get nasty in the next days then there is a chance that Biden will be requested to apologise and fess up to perpetrating a crime against the Belorussian people. That would be interesting to watch and certainly sink his wretched, desperate 'meet Putin' and lie about it all agenda.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 4 2021 22:05 utc | 79

@ 67 jen and @71 rkka... thanks to both of you... jen - that is kind of how i was thinking, but rkkas quote from the article is really insightful and informative.. that makes so much sense, but i have never seen anyone put it in words like that.. thanks both of you...

@ 70 william gruff... thanks.. it surprises me how little imagination these people complaining have...

@ 75 petri... good overview.. thanks...

Posted by: james | Jun 4 2021 22:54 utc | 80

I have transcribed the first 18 minutes of Protasevich’s ONT interview and translated it to English.

Marat Markov: Hello, Roman!

Roman Protasevich: Good afternoon!

M: As a person from the execution lists, it is quite difficult for me to abstract from your direct participation in the processes that we will talk about today. But I’ll try. And, to be honest, this is not for my own sake, but rather, probably, for the sake of people learning to talk to each other—since you and I could.

My journalist colleagues, I am sure, they would hardly refuse such an opportunity. But today I am the one who has this right. That’s why… I’m going split this conversation. I will ask the questions that the media dependent on the opposition and state media would probably like to ask, that is, in some cases I will differentiate between these questions. I hope at least you understand that there are no independent media?

P: Of course.

M: It is good that you understand, because then many things will not need to be explained. Then let’s start with the basics. Opposition media would ask: “Did you agree to this interview voluntarily?”

P: Absolutely.

M: And how do you feel?

P: I feel great, the only thing is, well, I’ve got a slight cold, but that, again, is not a reason to, you know, postpone the conversation and so on.

M: And what do you think, how will your associates react to our conversation with you?

P: To be honest, it’s hard for me to predict the reaction on their part. I’m just sure that a lot of people will start publicly condemning me. I’m just sure that any support actions that they were planning earlier will naturally come to naught. I would not be surprised if, well, many would call me an alleged “traitor” and so on. But I can honestly say that I absolutely don’t care what they say. I am here and now, and I really… I want to do everything in order to correct my mistakes, in order to…

M: So you don’t care about their reaction?

P: (over) …try to do something…

No. I followed a certain idea of mine and my convictions, and the more I tried not to pry my nose into others’ business, the more I tried not to think about where money was coming from and what kind of money, which, you know, I don’t know, which intelligence services were influencing what was going on, the less I just tried to think about it, the worse it all got.

M: And are they afraid of your appearance, what do you think?

P: I think so. I think that this will cause quite a stir.

M: Well, look, a media like Nasha Niva, it would have echoed, right, the previous question. Was makeup applied to you before this interview?

P: I wasn’t touched at all.

M: Well, I mean, you know…

P: All they did was put on a microphone—that’s all.

M: They like to say that bruises, beatings are being covered by makeup. But… you have answered, okay.

I will not further develop the airplane issue today. I think that, in principle, everything is obvious to both you and me. But a question remains, as I would call it, “from the yellow media”. Who knew that you were flying on this plane?

P: I’ll probably say the preamble first. In principle, the only time I told anything to anyone during this… unfortunate vacation, let’s call it that way, was the moment before the plane took off. And I wrote…

M: Before departure from where?

P: Already from Athens to Vilnius.

M: From Athens.

P: And this is the only time at all during my entire vacation when I wrote about my movements, and the thing is, I wrote it exclusively in the working chat. That is, there were, well, several journalists who are working on the project, plus, well, there were a few people from Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s HQ—these are Franak Vechorko [Vyachorka in Belarusian spelling] and Daniil Bogdanovich.

M: You smiled somewhat while naming the last surname. Will you give a specific surname? Whom you are suspecting from this chat, who could keep such a serious grudge against you?

P: Well, as you understand, I smiled for a reason, because, again, I also had a personal conflict with the same Daniil Bogdanovich, that is, he held the position of director of the Infopoint network, my relationships weren’t working lately [unclear whether he refers to relationship with Bogdanovich or with other members of the team], and I was both emotionally tired and did not want to do any political work, and in general, in principle, I just wanted to do photography, and plus, in parallel, even, you know, two days before my departure from Athens to Vilnius, that is, they were talking about dismissing me altogether, and even Franak Vechorko wrote a phrase that “upon arrival we will discuss the prospects of our further cooperation”.

M: Whom were they discussing your dismissal with?

P: There was a call, which I did not get on, and I did not get on it for an absolutely stupid reason, the Wi-Fi worked very badly at the hotel, and I simply could not join the call, and there they essentially said, behind my back, that they were going to dismiss me, you know, for the fact that I missed an absolutely petty deadline.

M: Who specifically warned you that this discussion will take place, and it will be about your dismissal?

P: The journalist guys told me about this, and…

M: So you think it was Bogdanovich, after all?

P: I am inclined to assume that yes. Well, I… more than that, I’m just sure of it.

M: You made quite a, well, populist mockery of the appeal of the Belarusian authorities to Poland to extradite you and Putilo. Why did you have such confidence that you won’t be handed over?

P: I never had such confidence. The way I can confirm this… is by the fact that, be that as it may, I never engaged in direct insults of the authorities, you know, I did not try, you know, like some people, you know, to almost send dick pics to the prosecutor’s office, and so on… That is, I always understood that sooner or later I could still be held responsible for my activities.

M: Well, you did quite a lot through The Black Book of Belarus at the very least, and through Belarus Golovnogo Mozga [the name of this Telegram channel is a play on “Belarus” and “encephalitis”, so it could be translated as “Belcephalitis”].

P: Well, these are still somewhat different projects, I had zero direct relation to the activities of The Black Book of Belarus project. Nekhta’s Belarus Golovnogo Mozga - yes, but not The Black Book of Belarus. That is, my only contact with The Black Book of Belarus project was that once I just held a journalist workshop for them, where I simply explained why headings are important, what the structure of the text should be, and so on. Well, to also accuse me of involvement with The Black Book of Belarus is probably… well, in this case, that is, this was, in fact, my only somewhat direct working contact with them.

M: Your companion… Sofiya, right? She was an editor of the extremist Telegram channel The Black Book of Belarus.

P: (nods in agreement)

M: They were publishing personal information of… well, even though she indicated that it was only about siloviki [law enforcement, military, intelligence]—no, of course, it wasn’t just about siloviki, and you know that.

P: (nods in agreement)

M: There was personal information of journalists, my employees, you know, teachers… well, in general, everyone who is connected in one way or another with the state. We found about 80 posts prepared for publication on her phone, right? They have not been published yet. How did the information get to The Black Book? Was it paid for, or were there enough people who happily gave away their colleagues and neighbors?

P: Again, I can only say the part of the things that I know for sure, I had no direct relation to this project.

M: I am not suggesting that you fantasize…

P: Based on what I know, well, a lot of information, it really was passed on, among others, you know, by ex-siloviki, or, you know, that is, in fact, in some workplaces there were some that they fittingly call “rats”, which just easily betrayed their colleagues, former colleagues, and so on.

M: Among those who passed through you, there were our colleagues, state journalists, former ones, those who turned their coats. Did they dabble in this, did they leak information—about us?

P: As far as I remember, there was—and then, only on, it seems, on Motolko’s Telegram channel—information about STV employees, you know, there were some duty schedules, something like that.

M: Well, yes, this information was there.

P: So yeah, but otherwise, well, again…

M: So you haven’t come across something like that?

P: (over) …that is, I, I had nothing to do with the activity concerning the publication of personal information.

M: Roman, and your personal attitude, well, towards those alleged “celebrities” who turned their coats—well, you must have somehow characterized them among yourselves—that fact that they started talking about the same thing en masse, posting the same posts, you know, did that cheer you up, made you laugh? What was the reaction?

P: Personally, it amused me, because, first of all, again, that is, if people have just decided, you know, to show some of their opposition views, then why only now? And, again, that is, if they had such views before, then how did this then, in general, actually intersect with their worldview?

M: As we called it, “changed shoes in the air”.

P: Yes, yes.

M: (over) In the middle of a jump.

P: This is, it seems to me, the most accurate characterization.

I have exactly the same question. How? That is, even if you allegedly, you know, all your life had some, well, opposition views, you know, you did not support the government, how could you calmly walk around and, you know, for example, work at Belteleradiocompany or somewhere else.

M: Well, it’s called…

P: (over) That is, one receives, receives money from the state, but then, at the first opportunity, decides to give up everything.

M: We have this joke when a person then simply writes in his memoirs: “I worked in the system in order to destroy it from within”. Right?

P: Well, that’s funny.

M: Yes, I agree.

P: It’s funny.

M: Roman, a question from the likes of Onliner or Dev.by. Why did you, well, a really progressive person, not stupid at all, a former recipient of a fellowship - you understood perfectly well what could happen, the phone has a lot of interesting things on it - why didn’t you kill your phone while in the air, well, haven’t erased the information? Or why didn’t Sofiya erase it?

P: Actually, the reason… there are two reasons, in principle. One of them is very banal—and that is that at that moment we were both, in principle, in such a state of stress that our brains practically did not work. I mean, that is, we weren’t in a state to think about such things. And the primary task was just to calm down.

M: Was there a panic?

P: Of course.

M: (over) Did you panic?

P: Of course. Later, I just thought about it, and, probably, it is comparable to the feeling when you ascend the scaffold—only, in my case, I was landing on it. Well, because I understood that as soon as the plane landed, I would be held accountable for everything I did and for all the damage that I caused to the country.

M: And why did you say that a death penalty awaits you here?

P: It’s simpler. Because the State Security Committee [KGB] at one time included me in the list of persons involved in terrorism, and terrorism may well be punished with a death penalty.

M: Well, you yourself indicate that you understood that you would be held accountable. And for what exactly do you think you should be held accountable? I am not a judge, and, well, really, you are not under interrogation, and I…

P: Yes, I understand, of course.

M: (over) …should not be emphasizing this, but it’s very important for me to know how well do you understand where you were crossing this line of what was permitted or provided for by the law.

P: Again, well, first of all, it’s important to understand, and, again, I openly admit that I was one of those people who posted calls to go out on the 9th. As soon as they presented me, you know, provided me with documents, presented charges against me, that is, all these things, I immediately admitted my guilt under Part 342 of the Criminal Code, it’s organizing massive unauthorized actions—well, I don’t remember, you know, the details, but something like that. I really immediately and in full admitted my guilt under this part, and after that I just knew that the appeals that were published by me, among others, they were the result of, in fact, uncontrollable riots starting in the streets [he means to say the reverse, that the riots were the result of appeals]. And, in fact, Minsk lived in chaos for three days.

M: Well, the fact is that even in the very memorable interview with Dud’ you clearly indicated that not only you were called for, you, in fact, were coordinating and controlling these processes. Well, that is, at least here, here, those who were in Belarus had an absolutely clear feeling that this extremist Telegram channel, in which you were directly involved, was acting as a protest coordinator. I’m a military person, I understand perfectly well that protests are not organized by appeals alone, and that they need… At least, even by the amount of auxiliary literature, instructions, right, plans, schemes, schemes [explaining] how to organize terrorism on the railway, right, how to make, you know, a device to pierce tires—well, that is, things that an ordinary person, he, without encountering this in life, he will never know this, that is, you need to instruct him—in fact, there was a perfectly clear coordination.

I’ve heard the term Love Hata. What was that, an instrument of creating this protest picture? That is, to create events, on the basis of which the messages were then posted?

P: Let’s just say that, in principle, it was the main chat of the administrators of the largest Telegram channels. It was there that the discussions of the upcoming actions really took place, there was, that is, planning, work on the agenda that should be in place, you know, for this or that week of protests. That is, one can say that this chat, Hata—well, it, you know, was called by different names, that is, it was re-created several times, it had, you know, different names, well, it’s not important, that is, the main thing was that keyword, “hata”—that is, there were, well, administrators of the largest channels, bloggers, and so on, and what was really happening was, well… it was this main coordination chat of street protests and information agenda.

M: Well, who was there, in this secret chat?

P: Hmmm…

M: Well, apart from you?

P: Stepan Putilo, Jan Rudik, well, another representative of the Nekhta Telegram channels also joined, that is Tadeusz Gichan, Franak Vechorko also was there, who often could just come to this… well, for example, come and write in the chat specific talking points on which we had to work, Anton Motolko, Daniil Bogdanovich, whom I already mentioned, earlier there were also such characters as [Artyom] Shraybman, [Eduard] Palchis ...

M: Quite well-known people.

P: Yes, Shraybman, Palchis, [Evgeniy] Yushkevich… As far as I remember, there was also Anastasiya Rogatko, who is also related to the activities of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s HQ, then Victoriya Palchis, the wife of…

M: Yes, Palchis’s wife.

P: (over) …Eduard Palchis, that is. Well, these are, right away, the people whom I can… Oh, Dmitriy Navosha also was there. In principle, quite well-known media person.

M: (over) Well-known.

P: Yes, Evgeniy Malahovskiy, who worked mainly with courtyard chats and courtyard initiatives. There, basically, we made all the main decisions about where the next action would take place, what kind of information agenda we should push, you know, in the near future, all current events were discussed there, all incidents, everything, so, in fact, one chat, it played the role, you know, of the main coordination chat, in fact, of the entire information war and street protests.

M: So you’re saying that a quite talented journalist, Shraybman, a cunning journalist, I won’t hide it, he was also managing what was, in fact, the riots?

P: I can’t say that he was managing directly, but quite often he would express, you know, his opinion, or was telling us that no, guys, this way it won’t work, change at least, you know, for example, you know, such and such theme, or right here, perhaps draw more attention to this.

M: Well, they were… as far as I understand, a secret chat, it’s usually some kind of nicknames.

P: Well, again, many…

M: (over) How did you know who is who?

P: …many were present under their own names.

M: That is, in any case, you were sure that these people were present in this chat.

P: (over) Yes, yes, yes, yes. That is, some tried to hide, you know, under other nicknames. For example, Bogdanovich, he was always, you know, “John”, or “Kastus”, or “Curator”, or someone else, that is. There was another person there, Miroslav, who had a surname Chigir, if my memory serves me, who worked, you know, in Belarus Golovnogo Mozga, and, well, later he… you know, lately he was doing some kind of investigations, as I understand it, together with The Black Book of Belarus, well, he too, you know, was constantly changing nicknames. To be honest, I, well, can’t even remember which ones now, because he, you know, was changing them literally, you know, every week. [Unclear] was also in Hata, that is, a well-known, in principle, Belarusian freelance journalist.

M: But, despite the fact that you are here, in fact, this chat still exists, as I understand it…

P: (over) Yes, yes.

M: …it’s just named differently now.

P: Well, for sure now it’s just… it was re-created. … Almost certainly there is still the word “hata” in it.

M: Well, I heard it is Safe Hata.

P: Well, that was the last name.

M: The last name.

P: It turned out to be not very safe.

M: Yes, they say, but there is nothing safe, unfortunately, in this age of technology.

Posted by: S | Jun 4 2021 23:03 utc | 81

From William Gruff:

…one of the few iconic visuals in Russia that any American could identify as Russian.
Sorry I have to disagree: it could be with 20 cm of snow and many of them would still guess India or Islam (not a country of course) because "funny houses" :P

As for… "Belarus? Isn't that some kind of whale?" seems likely enough XD

But they could know a lot about things I don't care about (rappers and celebrities perhaps?) and could get a good laugh from that :)

- - -

Jayc:
the joke about stealthily blinking "- --- ·-· - ··- ·-· ·" in Morse code was "··-· ··- -· -· -·--" (and yes I cheated), thanks :)

"Nope I'm not having a stroke or seizure, I only got something in my eyes" :P

The "nekhst" nazi confessing on tv should try it simply for the laughs.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 4 2021 23:09 utc | 82

Somebody just told me that some man and a woman just got arrested on a plane that was diverted to Minsk, Belarus. Is this true?

Posted by: blues | Jun 4 2021 23:13 utc | 83

Posted by: Abe | Jun 4 2021 18:24 utc | 46

So, theory that Belorussian (or Russian or anyone there) calling in that bomb threat, then convincing the guy that it was his people that sold him out - that theory hold water a lot more than other one.

You are forgetting the the smoking gun.

The team that wanted Roman Protasevich arrested did three things:

  1. Sent bomb threat email.
  2. Took photo of Protasevich at Minsk airport.
  3. Tweeted photo, alerting Belarusian law enforcement.

One can speculate that the "Russian-speaking man" who took the photo might have been working for Belarus. But unless Franak Viačorka had absolute trust in this agent, he would not have tweeted the photo only 7 minutes after it was taken. In fact, they must have coordinated their action before the photo was taken and the tweet was sent.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 5 2021 0:09 utc | 84

"Protasevich admitted that he is afraid of some kind of extradition (to which country, it is not clear) "
It is clear. It is Donbass resp. Lugansk, the separatists in Ukrainia.
- BTW: the complete interview is translated in 3 german translated parts, which maybe is better to translate:
https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/
(I recommend https://www.deepl.com/translator which is better than Google.)

Posted by: wp007 | Jun 5 2021 0:11 utc | 85

Does Belarus recognize DPR/LPR? Can't extradite to them if it doesn't. How would they even get him there, because I am not sure Russia would be too pleased having him transported through their space.

Posted by: kons | Jun 5 2021 0:30 utc | 86

@wp007 #85:

- BTW: the complete interview is translated in 3 german translated parts, which maybe is better to translate

It’s not a complete interview, but a detailed summary of the interview. Here are the links to machine translations of all three parts:

Posted by: S | Jun 5 2021 0:47 utc | 87

Posted by: JB | Jun 4 2021 17:44 utc | 42

I find this intreview on public television of a person who has been arrested deeply disturbing. Anyone under arrest can be considered to be in circumstances of coercion, pressure, not free. It is highly unethical to broadcast a confession of a person under arrest.

Regardless of whether Protashevich was telling the truth, and what his motives may have been,
this interview should not have been broadcast.Chilling!

Would it be ethical for BBC to broadcast a 1.5 hour interview with Julian Assange?


Would Julian Assange be willing to give an interview to BBC?

Would BBC be willing to do such an interview?

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 5 2021 0:53 utc | 88

My personal experience with bomb threats and airplanes FWIW:

In 2005 I was booked on a flight from JFK (NYC) to Europe. After typical hanging out at the gate I boarded the jet normally along with the other passengers and had stowed my hand luggage and taken my seat when an announcement was made for all passengers to exit the aircraft and return to the gate area. No explanation was offered. Upon returning to the gate area I found that all the passengers for that flight were sequestered in the gate area and could not leave. No explanation was offered. The jet was backed away from the terminal and taken to some other area away from the gates. I think we waited between 1.5 and 2hrs before a rumor spread that there had been a bomb threat to the aircraft. We waited longer, with people getting restive. Eventually we were told we were going to re-board the aircraft - we were to proceed down the jetway after a document check and take a bus out to the aircraft. In the jetway were armed security personnel with dogs. We had to pass single file past the dogs who smelled us for explosives and then board the bus. We unloaded near the jet where all the luggage had been arranged in a long line. Each passenger identified their bags and they were reloaded onto the jet. Only those which passengers had identified were loaded. Then we boarded again via a stair and eventually took off. I recall the delay being 7hrs total. We were told that a book had been found at a payphone booth in the gate area and amongst the pages had been a note making threats against the aircraft. Had we been airborne when the note had been found I have no doubt that we would have been asked to return, perhaps to a military airport.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 5 2021 0:58 utc | 89

Well, yeah, more or less.
Detained blogger Protasevich’s actions in Ukraine deemed as crimes against Donbass — LPR

Belarus opposition financed by Lithuanian taxpayers and business, says Protasevich

Detained blogger Protasevich says afraid of extradition to LPR

Blogger Protasevich says he had nothing to do with BlackBookBelarus Telegram channel

Opposition blogger Protasevich says he respects Lukashenko

LPR says Belarusian blogger Protasevich was sniper in Ukrainian Azov nationalist battalion

Posted by: Josh | Jun 5 2021 1:02 utc | 90

Those are Russian headlines from today, and not all of them.
The authorities in Lugansk want him extridited to stand trial,
Not only for participating in hostilities against the people of Lugansk, but also for organising for others to participate in the firing of numerous weapons against the population on the front lines (as something like a 'hunting trip' to customers who would pay).

Posted by: Josh | Jun 5 2021 1:06 utc | 91

@Petri Krohn(#88):
IMHO it was a four hour interview, only 90min sent because of running investigations.

Posted by: Wolle | Jun 5 2021 1:26 utc | 92

An addendum to my post @89 - there was no bomb of course - the note in the book had been a 'joke' or a hoax.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 5 2021 2:09 utc | 93

Mr. rkka | Jun 4 2021 21:33 utc | 71

Law is essential for any society and men would flock to where it obtains and to whoever makes a credible prmise of its restoration.

I also agree that civil war in Russia was in the cards. The war was avoided because of an internal government coup against the late Mr. Yelstin. That was almost certainly a military-backed endeavor.

Anarchy consumes her children.

Posted by: Fyi | Jun 5 2021 2:30 utc | 94

@ 84 petri.. exactly.. total set up and it falls apart right there...

Posted by: james | Jun 5 2021 2:57 utc | 95

@ JB 42 It is highly unethical to broadcast a confession of a person under arrest.

It's highly insufficient to judge on ethical. This man happened to find himself at the pinnacle of guiding color revolution attempt, affecting the whole nation, while operating from abroad. It is in public interest to know how the color revolution was funded, who actually guided it, and what are these people are like, for the nation to decide whether or not they are preferable to the status quo.

One would not want Moscow show trial of 1937, yet there is a lot of historic awareness of this; it still needs a watch.

But in the case of this man, he made a decision to fully cooperate with the investigation, with expectation of reduced punishment. This is quite common in any legal system. But for a public person involved in color revolution, leniency can only come from publicity. Unlike for a common criminal. This interview is a vehicle for himself, as much as for the regime.

His interview from the dungeon can be compared with his earlier interview as a free man talking to a young pro-Western dude, English-subtitled;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrOxsjdeccw
and it is perhaps 90% the same thing. He clearly had all those doubts and grievances already, just did not want to go much into this publicly. The only new elements of this interview is the notion of guilt/responsibility (and maybe an assessment of Lukashenko balls, which nobody would take too seriously anyway)

As for public television, this is still way orderly then what is going on in telegram channels, on both sides of the barricade.

Posted by: Don Karlos | Jun 5 2021 6:56 utc | 96

@S | Jun 4 2021 23:03 utc | 81

Thank you very much for the translation.

Posted by: b | Jun 5 2021 8:23 utc | 97

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 4 2021 21:44 utc | 75

The full story may not be know yet. This is the way the narrative changes.

Your suggestion that "we are now here" at point number 4 may reflect the level of awareness of this blog and its readership, but it certainly doesn't describe the main narrative as presented - and accepted, by the general Western audience.

The media treatment of the May 31 Dublin - Krakow Ryanair flight and the June 3 Ndjamena - Paris Air France flight is a good indication of where the narrative presently stands. Despite the glaring similarity of the incidents, such as the diversion of the Ryanair flight to a third country and the military jet escort for the Air France flight, I haven't come across any commentary referring to the Minsk incident. For a story which was only a few days old and which centred around the notion of the illegitimacy of the bomb threat excuse, this really shows the bad faith of the media and the wilful passivity of its audience.

This point alone suggests that this particular narrative battle was fought and won by the West.

Counter battery fire isn't effective when it comes a week late. People have already moved on and the damage is done. The specifics of the incident don't matter anyway, as most folks have little awareness and zero curiosity of these matters. What counts is the lasting sentiment imprinted in their mind, keywords to be added to a subfile of 'Russia and stuff'.

Posted by: robin | Jun 5 2021 9:55 utc | 98

b. got it super wrong again:

"the narrative - that Lukashenko did something to the Ryanair flight - is false. There was a real bomb threat and Belarus reacted to that by the book. The Ryanair pilot and his company decided to go to Minsk. Belarus did not know that Protasevich was on board. He was only arrested after passing through passport control. "

b. cannot back any of these claims. Minsk DID something to the Ryanair flight: they told them there is a bomb threat, so they had to land. The "bomb threat" was NOT real. We DON'T know if Minsk didn't know he was on board. and so forth.

everything b. claims is wrong or unproven.

Posted by: I2 | Jun 5 2021 11:20 utc | 99

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 4 2021 21:20 utc | 68

They had no insider knowledge of the passenger list. They just claimed something about an Economic Forum. There wasn't enough time for Minsk to verify this, escalate internally, and decide to act. And Minsk STILL hasn't published this email, only shown an "image", and Protonmail denied it went to Minsk.

Minsk op is easiest explanation.

Posted by: I2 | Jun 5 2021 11:25 utc | 100

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