Palchys on the letter from Kolesnikova and Zolotava: "For all that is good, against all that is bad", but in reality, it will leave 9 million in a local DPRK

The other day, BELPOL reported that some group of signatories would appeal to the European Union. I thought about the so-called whitewashers, but while I was writing this text, a text came out from a separate part of some political prisoners.

Neither I nor my acquaintances were offered to sign, but it's okay. I understand why some things are done secretly by some.

The text is quite neutral and positive, in the style of: "For all that is good, against all that is bad" (though without any specifics). And many good people signed it.

But somehow my intuition tells me that this "open letter" will be used in behind-the-scenes conversations with European diplomats by completely different individuals.

And it is to these individuals (and not to the signatories of the letter) that I have specific questions. Because in this whole topic, there is no unilaterally correct approach.

1) Our guys and girls live in hell. Their health, psyche, families, careers, businesses – their entire lives are being destroyed. Especially when the sentences are long.

Therefore, Cole's mission is incredibly valuable. We must free absolutely everyone, sooner or later.

But I slightly don't understand some kind of naivety, or something else, from the camp of those who constantly throw secret theses into the information space: "Let's gradually lift sanctions and sit down at the negotiating table...", "Let's gradually lift sanctions and everyone will be released...", "Let's gradually lift sanctions and everyone will be returned home..."

You saw how Lukashenka last time deceived John Cole regarding the release of 200 of our prisoners at the last minute. People had already packed their belongings, their relatives were waiting at the gates, but at the last minute, everything was canceled.

I don't know what kind of ego or stupidity must be in the heads of those people who truly think that someone will just sit down and talk to you like that. Especially if you don't have any serious leverage, and you also hold an absolutely herbivorous position.

2) If you think that during the lifting of sanctions, Europeans or Americans will seat you at the table, that's even funnier. In an era of wars, redistribution of the world, geopolitical storms, of course, people who occupy weak positions will be at the forefront of processes, yeah.

Believe me, one state bureaucracy will negotiate with another, not with people who often cannot even get legalization documents without problems.

3) Another point is how do we free everyone? Absolutely everyone? Both Autukhovich and his people, and the "railway partisans," and everyone else with long sentences?

How do we find out about everyone? Because the system has become so opaque that we might not see new political prisoners. This year, specifically, even all colony and prison chats were declared extremist so that people couldn't sit and exchange information.

4) How do we stop new arrests? The repression machine is set up, and it wants to devour. Every day, the KGB or GUBOPiK detains someone, comes to relatives, blackmails, pressures. Personnel are recruited, budgets are signed, plans are approved. EHU are extremists, clothing stores are closing, people are even periodically forbidden to play quizzes.

I won't even mention the package of laws and practices that turned Belarus into a local DPRK, where a security officer can simply search your phone on the street. We need to think ahead about the remaining 9 million, whom we are leaving in the huge colony of BSSR 2.0.

5) Is there a specific mechanism or lever for restoring those same sanctions if the wind blows in the wrong direction again? I don't need to tell you that we live in a time in history when every month or week brings something completely unexpected.

Do you understand the difference in the adoption of EU and US sanctions? And where do you get the idea that later, "by magic wand," they will reappear? If the West is tired of the topic of the Ukrainian war, do you really imagine that Belarusians are so important that everything will be done for them again at the first demand?

6) Perhaps some draw parallels with the era of 2008-2010, as well as the period of 2015-2020. But that was an era of conditional global stability, rules, US dominance, and "human rights" narratives.

After February 2022, we live in a completely different world. I see no reason for the regime to implement the "thaw" known to everyone now. Most likely, you will be offered 10 years to fight for the right to change expired passports at the nearest consulate.

Therefore, this is a truly difficult question. I myself periodically feel guilty that I was lucky enough to be free, and others were not. We must pull everyone out – everyone to the last.

But I do not want all our sacrifices to lead to Belarus eventually turning into Azerbaijan, the best people of the country being taken out without the possibility of a peaceful return, and new political prisoners sitting without any support – because no one will even know about them.

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