Bespalov has finally fallen out with Tikhanovsky: For him, the only good person is Prokopyev.

Bespalov wrote on his Facebook page:

«It's always embarrassing and painful to be disappointed in people. Especially when you are initially fascinated by a person you don't really know, and in your head lives an image painted by the media and your own imagination. In the picture, he is one person, in reality, he is completely different.

That's what happened to me with Sergei Tikhanovsky.

When Sergei was released, I was sincerely happy. The first interview, the first conference made a strong impression on me and created the image of a decent person with great potential. I wanted to help.

Through Alexander Kabanov, I offered my help completely free of charge. I arranged with the Belarusian House in Warsaw to organize a meeting for Sergei with bloggers and the media. Even there, the first alarming bells rang: inflated ego, narcissism, resentment towards the media, talk about the need to create a special group where everyone would unquestioningly post only what Sergei said.

At the time, I attributed this to the effects of five years in prison: the person just got out, he needs time, he will recover, realize, rebuild.

At the same meeting, it was decided to make me the press secretary. This decision was made by Sergei himself. I didn't ask for it — I initially just wanted to help organize the event and generally support his work.

I saw great potential in Sergei and thought he could become a «third force» that would unite people. But, alas, this did not happen.

The longer I stayed close, the more I saw how he interacted with people on the team. This became my first major disappointment.

Sergei doesn't know how to work with people. The cameraman couldn't stand even two weeks of work. The first assistant lasted about the same. The second cameraman — less than a month. The bodyguard lasted the longest — about two months.

The team assembled and disintegrated as quickly as it was created. Sergei's boorish behavior annoyed almost everyone.

At the very beginning, I said directly: «I'm here as long as we are fighting a common enemy, not each other. As soon as we start fighting among ourselves, I'm leaving.» It seemed to me that Sergei heard me then.

When the story in New York happened, I still supported Sergei. I didn't approve of the situation itself, but I thought that in some sense it was even useful: now no one will say that they have «everything bought» in the opposition and he doesn't have his own opinion. Although it looked, as he later admitted, quite nervous.

Before this story, on September 19, Dmitry from the office wrote to me: Sergei urgently needs a visa to London. I filled out the application, we paid the consular fee from Sergei's card. All that remained was to choose the dates — there were free slots around September 26- 27‑28 and further, until mid-October, for submitting fingerprints and visiting the British Embassy in Lithuania.

Sergei returned from the USA to Warsaw for a couple of days. I met him at the airport, we talked for a long time in the hotel. He was very irritated by the actions of the Office. It was then that I felt that his main enemy was starting to change: instead of the regime, he was increasingly focusing on those with whom it was easier to fight here, abroad.

Anyone who dared to criticize or even have a different opinion automatically became «pro-office». I quickly ended up in this category too.

Around the same time, Vadim Prokopiev becomes for Sergei the «main authority» — a person who, in his opinion, «really loves Belarus» and whose opinion is the only correct one.

Somewhere at the end of September, Sergei puts our daily work on hold: he plans to go to the USA in January to learn English. His plans are drastically changing. Now the main thing for him is the American case, he sees prospects there, there are large sponsors, there he is «loved and awaited».

He even offered me to go too, but I refused: I won't go anywhere without my wife, plus I'm studying at the University of Warsaw and I have to attend classes on weekends.

It was a big surprise to me how easily he agreed to leave for a year, leaving his wife and children in Lithuania. He publicly cried that he hadn't seen his children for five years, and now he calmly plans another year away from his family, without the opportunity to see his children every day.

From the end of September, we start a transition period. I increasingly just pass him the contacts of journalists directly, without my mediation. He is mainly interested in American media, and they are the ones who almost never write.

On November 13, Sergei offers me to fly with him to the USA — to film his meeting with the diaspora in Los Angeles on November 24. At that time, he owed me 1000 euros for September and said that he would buy me round-trip tickets for that money.

The plan was this: I fly to LA, then he gets me a ticket from Los Angeles to Miami, and from there on the 26th I return to Warsaw.

I thought: why not? At the end of August, I opened a visa to the USA, but I never used it. I have many acquaintances and friends in Los Angeles — I can see them too, and at the same time see how people live there. Plus, I can make good video material.

I agreed to fly and shoot at my own expense, and he promised to compensate for the flights. I took two cameras and went. I settled with guys from the Belarusian diaspora and lived with them all the time.

But by the time I arrived in Los Angeles, it became clear that everything was not going according to the plan we had discussed.

Back in Warsaw on November 17, Sergei sends me a text in Signal — a strange post in my name. I quote the beginning:

«Sergei Bespalov

To all interested parties.

I can't watch Sergei being made guilty again and false information being spread…»

Further in the text — a harsh attack on the Office: accusations that there are «marginal people» there, that Franak and Denis Kuchinsky are allegedly engaged in harassment, that the Office did not help with the visa or with information about the award, and that Sergei himself was «used and then thrown away».

I ask: «What is this?» I haven't published this anywhere, I haven't written such a text. He replies: «This is from you. Post it everywhere, send it to journalists and drop it into the reformers' chat.» I say: «This is a direct escalation, I'm not going to do that. I'm ready to write a softer and more honest post, without exaggeration, because I know how it all really was. I have never engaged in commissioned work and I'm not going to start.»

To which Sergei replies: either that, or nothing. After which he concludes: since I'm not ready to publish this on my own behalf, it means that I'm «Franak's agent» and he no longer trusts me.

On the 19th, I still call him and ask: «So what about the trip? Who will meet me? Should I fly at all or not?» Sergei sounds cheerful on the phone: yes, people from the diaspora will meet you, everything will be fine, take the cameras, you will film and relax.

Upon arrival in the USA, I learn that Sergei has become even more hostile to me. He avoids meetings in every possible way, asks for other cameras for filming, because, according to his logic, I can pass «his video» to Franak. Although in these videos he says the same things as usual: the story of the imprisonment, how he didn't shake hands with Lukashenko, etc.

As a result, we only see each other at the event itself. A few hours before the start, we talk for about two hours, in raised voices. I tell him the truth, and it infuriates him. I realize that he only likes flattery and applause.

He was even offended that I didn't invite him to my wedding, although the wedding was in May (when he was in prison), and he himself imagined that it was in July.

He shows me screenshots of correspondence from the end of October, trying to prove that the Office did not help with the visa and said that there would be no award. I remind him that we started applying for the visa on September 19, not at the end of October. To this he angrily shouts: «They told me that there would be no award, why do I need this English visa?»

He is sincerely offended that I «didn't defend» him. But honestly, I wasn't obliged to defend a person who himself failed the situation: there was plenty of time for the visa. The fact that he himself prioritized the USA is his choice.

We argue and quarrel for a long time, and I realize that it is impossible to convince him.

For him, only one person is good — Vadim Prokopiev, and only his words are the truth.

I remind Sergei that Vadim already had one «Winston Churchill», and that he risks repeating his fate. To which Sergei replies: «I don't know any Sakhashchik, I don't care».

As long as Vadim pays and praises — he is his main friend. When this stops — he will become a «scumbag», like everyone else who has already gone this way: from friends to enemies. It's funny and scary that Sergei doesn't even deny such a scenario.

The performance itself went well outwardly, although I never understood who was more in the hall — Belarusians or Russians.

One of the Russians even suggested: since Belarusians are «not grateful enough» to Sergei for everything he does, maybe he should start advocating for their interests in the USA.

After the meeting, in a conversation with the organizers, I learned that Sergei was dissatisfied with the amount of donations collected and said that «Russians love him more» because they donate more and give money. This caused me Spanish shame.

But the most shameful and painful thing happened the next day. First, Vadim Prokopiev called me and said that we, as Sergei's team, must defend him, and I am obliged to post that very text.

Then Sergei himself started calling and actually blackmailing: if I don't publish this post, he will cancel my tickets back. He set ultimatums — one hour, then two hours, threatened, switched to swearing and insults, which, frankly, I haven't heard in such a concentrate for a long time.

At some point, I just told him where he could shove these tickets, and on the same day I bought myself a return ticket from Los Angeles to Warsaw at my own expense.

The situation is extremely unpleasant and dirty. After such blackmail and an attempt to use me as a tool for personal squabbles, there is no desire to continue any kind of cooperation with Sergei. And I perfectly understand that now «pricks», hints and petty meanness will follow in my address — the style is recognizable.

I have already seen how this happens. It was exactly the same with the first assistant, Zavadsky, when Sergei signed him on his website not by his surname, but «Zashkvarsky» — a mockery that says a lot about the person.

Such petty dirty tricks, this manner of humiliating and taking revenge on the sly — unpleasantly remind me of the same techniques that Lukashenko uses.

I sincerely regret that his potential will be wasted, and his reputation will be destroyed below the plinth. But this is his choice.

To be a leader, it is not enough to have a heroic biography — you need to be able to listen to people, accept criticism and not surround yourself only with those who look in your mouth and click their heels.

This is only part of the story — the flowers. There are berries too. More about them — later.»

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