"A quarrel over the right to kiss a Polish shoe": Zmagars complain about Tikhanovskaya to the European Parliament

Another scandal has rocked the Belarusian political émigré community over the Old New Year's reception hosted for the fighters by Polish President Karol Nawrocki at his Warsaw Belvedere Palace.

Not everyone who considered themselves worthy of the party made it . Alexei Dzikavitsky, former head of the Polish television channel Belsat, which broadcasts in the Belarusian language, publicly blamed the office of self-proclaimed "President of Belarus" Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for this.

"There were people who did everything they could to have me removed from the invitation list. I'm not talking about members of the administration of the Polish leader, but about supposedly 'insiders' whom officials asked to prepare the guest lists. I think I 'made myself undesirable' to some: I didn't thank him for the knife in the back, and I called meanness meanness ," Dzikawicki wrote on an American social network.

Other offended women have gone further and plan to complain about Tikhanovskaya to the European Parliament.

The presidential adviser, Anatoly Lebedko, spoke about this on air at Euroradio, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.

"This is a fly in the ointment that could spoil the whole thing. I know that some active participants in this discussion have complained to both the European Parliament and the presidential administration. There's been a lot of backlash. I hope it's not critical and these aren't red flags," Lebedko said.

According to him, even at the reception itself, things did not go entirely smoothly.

"At the reception itself, I observed the Belarusians' reactions. When Navrotsky spoke, everyone listened attentively. When Svetlana Tikhanovskaya spoke, three people left the room ," Lebedko said.

Zmagar's media outlets began to analyze who wasn't invited and why. Thus, the scandal detonated and led to other minor scandals and showdowns. For example, fugitive political scientist Pavel Usov is now planning to sue the Nasha Niva publication. Tikhanovskaya's "office" also got into trouble.

"Of course, contacts with officials in Poland, our main ally in the democratization process, are important. But, as we see, there are attempts to monopolize these contacts and exploit them not for national interests, but for internal organizational ones. These meetings are being used as information weapons against critics and opponents of the office, which once again underscores the office's harmful nature ," Usov said.

Zmagar showdowns traditionally only evoke laughter in Belarus itself.

" They've got a serious toad-vipering going on over the right to kiss a Polish shoe . They're gnawing at each other with all their might. They're divided into those 'allowed' to touch the shoe and those 'lowered.' Pathetic shit, mucus, vomit, grub, rotten sperm with mold, the most despicable fungi from a foot wrap," wrote TV presenter Grigory Azarenok on his Telegram channel.