At the press conference immediately after the release of political prisoners, which took place in Ukraine on December 14, Viktor Babaryka and Maria Kalesnikava were asked, among other things, political questions about the war, Russian soldiers, and Belarusian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine.
Kalesnikava and Babaryka spent five years behind bars without free access to information; recently, they were kept in an incommunicado regime, where no letters were allowed. The press conference was held the day after their release. Babariko's son Eduard, who was detained with his father, remains behind bars.
The political prisoners thanked Ukraine for accepting them.
«When you were released, did you know about the latest events surrounding Russia's war with Ukraine? And how do you currently feel about Putin's regime and its cooperation with Lukashenka's regime?» — the political prisoners were asked.
Viktor Babaryka replied:
«We don't know anything for sure. Why? Because in the conditions we were in, access to information was very limited.
I'm not talking about true or untrue, but only one-sided. That is, from the side of the Belarusian media. Therefore, commenting on something and giving an assessment when you only know one side's position is pointless.
Therefore, regarding everything that happens in the outside world, especially where questions concern some contentious issues involving more than one side, I think you will get little from us.»
A journalist from the Ukrainian publication «Suspilne» asked what they knew about the war and Belarus's role in it.
«From early childhood, I have known about war that war is always bad,» Babaryka replied. — That is, the understanding of a just or unjust war, all of this is, of course, conditional, but war is bad. As for specifically here, as I have already said, war is a cause of suffering, primarily for the countries involved and for people, but the worst thing is that war is, in fact, a point that divides.
Therefore, to comment on some things when you, as I said, know practically nothing and only know one-sidedly… well, I can't say anything at all. We know that some actions are taking place; what we can say is only what is shown on Belarusian mass media. (…) We can only say what we know is shown on Belarusian television. And that is, well, that is practically nothing.»
Svetlana Shatilina, a representative of the United Transitional Cabinet in Ukraine, asked: if you had the opportunity to comment or ask a question to a Belarusian volunteer currently fighting for Ukraine, what would you say to him?
Kalesnikava and Babaryka replied that they could not comment because they had no information.
Babaryka also added:
«Any person's choice is made — I am sure that volunteers also make it — consciously, based on the systems of values that each one possesses. Within my systems of values, as I have already said, any war is bad. Accordingly, I do not believe that all possible types of settlement, other than war, are exhausted.
Perhaps someone decides otherwise. Perhaps someone believes that, from the perspective of their values, they have exhausted other methods of struggle besides war. Therefore, it is also very, very difficult to comment.
But what I do believe is that people make conscious choices, based on the systems of justice and good that they possess.»
Blogger Vladimir Zolkin, who runs the project for prisoners of war «Shukay Svoikh» (Find Your Own), decided to provide context and explained that there is the KastuÅ KalinoÅski Regiment, which Belarusians joined to help Ukraine defend itself. He mentioned the village of Yahidne, where Russians herded local residents into a basement and held them there for 80 days in inhumane conditions.
«And so, Belarusians were found who sided with us, came to kill those who came to our land, where no one invited them, to kill us. And I still want to hear an answer from you. Do you support the ideas of such people?» — Zolkin asked.
«The question does not concern nationality. The question does not concern rightness, wrongness, or anything else,» — Babaryka began to reply. — Everything that is committed against humanity is inhumane. It cannot be supported.
But I will emphasize again, such actions cannot be supported, they do not depend on where a person was born. They depend on the moral principles of the person themselves. And they cannot be supported under any circumstances. It cannot be justified that this can be done because I am for justice.
No. This cannot be done. That is, there is an explanation for why you do it, but the evaluation of the moral act itself cannot change because of it.
And therefore, the answer to your question is contained precisely within the question itself. Such people cannot be supported. But this does not mean that only, as the Russians say, Ukrainians commit this, or as Ukrainians say, Russians commit this.
Precisely, just as in any war, no matter what happens, criminal acts are committed that cannot be supported. In no measure.
Therefore, such people cannot be supported. But once again, I emphasize, this does not depend on nationality.»
Kalesnikava agreed with Babaryka's opinion.
«War is terrible. And what people do is terrible. It seems to me that now the moment has come when this can stop.
And I very much want it to stop. And I know that millions of people across the earth deeply want this horror to stop, for the killing of people to stop, for such inhumane acts to cease, for people to remember that they are human and why we all came into this world in the first place. It is very difficult to hear about this.
There can truly be no justifications here. I sympathize and deeply share the loss of Ukraine, the loss of Russia, and everyone who suffers here. This is great pain, and it must stop.»
Former volunteer Vadim Kabanchuk said that more than 80 Belarusian volunteers who defended Ukraine had died. He asked Babaryka and Kalesnikava if, based on the content available in the penal colony, they could understand who attacked whom.
«I spent practically 3 years in PKT (Punishment Cell/Solitary Confinement), and there, unfortunately, unlike Masha, there was only one book per week, so I, unfortunately, could not absorb literature like that,» — Babaryka said. —
Certainly, as I have already said, one-sided presentation of information is simply one-sided presentation of information. And therefore, what we saw on Belarusian television, you also saw. And, in fact, how can I comment differently if Belarusians say that the war started like this, what else can I conclude from that? No, of course, it's the same.»
«But once again, I say that no other conclusion can be drawn apart from what was said. And I never undertook to draw conclusions based on only one position. So, well, I don't know,» — Babaryka added.
Kalesnikava recalled a news broadcast from February 24, 2022.
«And 2 weeks later, I ended up in PKT (Punishment Cell/Solitary Confinement). And for the next, probably, 20 or 21 months, I didn't see a TV.
But I remembered this broadcast. And it was a news broadcast, in my opinion, on ONT, about how, I don't know how to phrase this correctly in military terminology, which I absolutely do not possess, that Kyiv was shelled. In my opinion, that's how it sounded.
I remembered that. And then there were some comments that somehow, probably, justified this very fact. But I absolutely clearly remember that this is how it was said.
And everything was clear to me, just as, probably, to the whole world.»
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