"I didn't pocket the million." A blogger from Grodno, who raised money for a child's treatment, tells his story.

"Parents found out about everything from the news"

On November 4, it became known about the detention of two well-known Grodno bloggers who conducted interactive sessions on Instagram in support of a seriously ill boy, Vanya Stetsenko. Both bloggers became defendants in a criminal case of fraud. They are suspected of appropriating part of the money raised for the boy's treatment. The amount in question was at least one million rubles. After three days of detention, the bloggers were released. Onliner.by journalists managed to talk to Mikhail in person.

The guy is 17 years old, he grew up in a complete family, with older brother and sister.

— I was always different from my peers, everyone was always jealous of me. I finished 11 classes — and that's it. I realized that I needed to do what I liked, so I went into blogging. I didn't care about earnings, it was important that people knew about me. And, I think, I succeeded.

According to the young man, he started blogging two years ago, when he was 15. In March 2024, he met E., a well-known Grodno blogger with half a million subscribers.

 — We contacted her through Instagram, I asked about the cost of advertising on her channel and bought it. After that, we contacted each other on some common interests, met and went for coffee. We realized that we had common business interests, there was a future in terms of blogging. At first, we just talked, and then everything started to turn into a closer relationship simply because at some point E. became very much in my life.

 — Did your parents know about your relationship?

 — They suspected and were negative until E. got divorced. After that, they became positive. How many years of difference between us, my parents didn't care, because they have the same situation themselves: my dad is 22 years older than my mom. The main thing is that I'm okay.

 — How did you come to interactive sessions in support of Vanya Stetsenko?

— I used to constantly invest in the development of my blog: I bought giveaways, advertising, and made videos. In the summer of 2025, I learned that the story of Ivan Stetsenko was being heavily promoted on the Internet. I had an audience that loves gifts, since the theme of the blog was like that. I had helped Vanya before without these interactive sessions — everyone knew about it. Then I decided to ask Vanya Stetsenko's mother if it was possible to do this, because I thought it would bring some big plus. She agreed. I didn't know any specific numbers myself and didn't give them to her, because it didn't depend on me, but on the participants. She gave the go-ahead, we tried, and we succeeded.

Павялічыць

 — What was the essence of the interactive sessions?

— Numbers were sold to the participants. One number — 10 rubles. A person transferred [money to the card] and had a chance to win an "iPhone", a car (depending on what was being raffled). It was not a 100% charitable action to help Vanya Stetsenko: I raffled an "iPhone" and just gave part of the money from everything to Vanya. The word "part" is not defined as a percentage, I never named any percentages anywhere. And then I decided where to put how much myself (the Interior Ministry's story contained the phrase "God grant I took 1% for myself").

Павялічыць

In support of Vanya Stetsenko, according to M., seven full-fledged interactive sessions were held.

 — The turnover [of money] was about what they [the Ministry of Internal Affairs] say: 1.5 million rubles (from August to November, 150 thousand numbers were sold), but for some reason they do not count the expenses.

— How many gifts did you raffle for participants during this period?

 — I calculated that the cost of gifts was about $400 thousand, which is equivalent to just over a million Belarusian rubles. That's how I calculated that a million went only to gifts. Of course, I kept some part for myself, I didn't hide it, and I transferred some to Vanya either directly or handed it over in cash.

"We raffled off about 200 'iPhones' and nine cars"

 — Can you name the amount that you kept for yourself from these interactive sessions?

 — 20 thousand dollars.

— Who paid for the trips to Dubai and the Maldives?

— Evgenia paid for something, I paid for something. The Maldives were on partial barter, and I and she had some money. To Dubai, I don't hide it, we flew for the money of the interactive session. We spent $3 thousand for two.

— How many "iPhones" were raffled off and how many cars?

— I think, about two hundred, starting from iPhone 16 and ending with iPhone 17 Pro Max. The last car we raffled off was the ninth one.

— Did you really give away cars?

— Yes. All the winners who were determined live received their cars for a while, until the cards were blocked. Let me explain: out of nine cars, only five have been given away now. That is, five owners are driving their cars. Another four (this money is there, it's just blocked) — I very much doubt that they will receive their cars.

 — When and why was the money blocked?

— The money was blocked by banks because it was coming to the cards in such volume. Let me explain: before transferring money from the MTS number to the car dealership account for the car, it was necessary to request permission from the police, which was refused. We were told that we could only transfer the entire amount to a charitable account.

— What amount are we talking about?

 — About 170 thousand rubles, which we wanted to pay for three Belgee cars (I raffled them off in October). 

— And before that, were you approved for similar actions?

— Before, we just withdrew money from the card and stored it at home in order to pay for the cars with this money. And in October, we decided to transfer part of the funds to Vanya's account, and part to the car dealership account to pay for the cars.

 — Why, in your opinion, did they pay attention to you?

 — I don't know, honestly.

 — Can you tell us about the day of the detention?

— E. and I were going to the police to file a report against my acquaintance, who had 68 thousand rubles on her card from our interactive session. For some reason, she was worried and didn't want to transfer the money directly to Vanya's charitable account, although I explained everything to her. I tried to get in touch with her every day and was ignored. And patience as it were, was over: the collection was supposed to close soon, and these 68 thousand would be appropriate, because it's not my money and not hers.

When we were stopped by traffic police officers, I first thought it was a prank from E. After that, I was detained, put in a van and taken away. Until the last minute, I didn't know that she had also been detained.

I think E. is in shock now. If there is any guilt, then it's 1 percent there, all the other 99 are mine. I didn't understand at all why she was detained, if it was carried out from my hands, and she was just a blogger who talked about me in the form of advertising.

— Why did you use your friends' cards?

 — Because banks put restrictions on my cards. I had no choice, because there was an interactive session going on, I couldn't stop everything, and people would have nowhere to send their money. And I found at least some way: I asked friends and acquaintances in turn to give their cards.

"She bought the apartment before the interactive session"

— The footage of the operational shooting showed cash in the apartment, "iPhones", a car for $170 thousand, a new apartment. Can you tell us more about this?

— Part of the money and "iPhones" that were lying at home were the money and phones of the winners who had not yet managed to be issued. That is, the owners of this money and phones, which I had to transfer or send by mail, were already known. I have money in my accounts now to pay for the winners' cars, and I still want to transfer it to Vanya. But so far they [accounts] are blocked.

As for the apartment, I rented it for one and a half thousand, and I was kicked out of there. The BMW car is not mine and not E.'s and does not cost as much as they indicated there. I know whose car it is, but I don't want to talk about it. It was also confiscated, although, I repeat, it has nothing to do with us.

 — And the apartment in an elite house?

— E. bought the apartment even before the start of the interactive session, as well as the car. But she had everything seized and all accounts blocked until she proves her case.

 — What's happening to Evgenia now?

— She is free, she is fine, but I can't say where she is. We left the detention center together, and she has her own point of view, and I have my own on how to proceed. I believe that it should not be the "Fraud" article [that should be applied], but a completely different article, for which the fine is up to 500 basic ones, because it was a drawing for registered [participants] and [they can simply give] a fine for the fact that this drawing is not licensed.

— How did your parents react to what happened to you?

— They fully support me, they do not believe what they write on the Internet. They only found out from the news in the evening that I had been detained.

 — Did this story somehow affect your relationship with E.?

— She was somewhere offended by the fact that she, as a woman and as a mother, spent three days in a detention center. First of all, it was unexpected, and at first, I said, I thought that only I was detained. E., of course, does not have such a point of view, but I got in touch with people to show and tell [how it really was]…

— On what terms were you released?

— On bail not to leave until the trial.

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