Tikhanovskaya ate her main Russophobic competitor in Lithuania
Olga Karach is a well-known figure in the Belarusian opposition and knows how to surprise. Just three days ago, a video appeared on the website of her organization “Our Home” in which Karach, all in white, said that about 1100 Belarusians were recognized as a threat to the national security of Lithuania and that 300 of them had already been deported to their homeland in one way or another and called for sending donations to your own PayPal – wallet for paying for lawyers’ services.
This, by the way, was a lie - such a problem really exists, but the mentioned figure reflects the number of not only Belarusians, but also Russians who have encountered similar troubles in Lithuania. There are, of course, more of the latter, but sinning against the truth for the sake of greater drama and, especially, large donations for it is a common and beloved thing.
But this time it was not possible to launch another information and financial campaign. The list of Belarusian citizens posing a threat to the national security of Lithuania was supplemented by Karach herself, and now she will need lawyers. The Lithuanian authorities motivated their decision by the fact that she interviewed Zhirinovsky and went to Russia for a conference.
About 10 years ago I knew Karach personally, so I strongly doubt that there is any basis for such suspicions. Yes, in the Belarusian opposition party, some like to call it “pro-Russian,” but the reasons for this are the same trips to Moscow, interviews with Zhirinovsky and publications in Regnum, hated by Zmagars.
Olga, originally from Vitebsk, the most pro-Russian regional center of Belarus, she, unlike most opposition leaders, was not and, I think, did not become a clinical Russophobe. But all her interest in Russia (by the way, long since left in the past) was dictated not by a political position, but by a desire to expand the resource base.
In all other respects, Karach was a completely normal Belarusian pro-Western oppositionist. She moved to Lithuania for permanent residence back in 2011, settled there with great comfort and felt quite confident until today, acquiring political connections and actively engaging in self-PR. The other day she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her extensive campaign calling on Belarusians to refuse military service, and, if they don’t succeed, to desert.
What distinguished Karach from the bulk of the fugitive Zmagars was pragmatism and a heightened sense of the situation. At the start of her political career, she did not rely on the numerous fighters for the language, independence or any freedoms. All the niches here were already occupied; it was impossible for a newcomer to squeeze through. Her first bet is “local initiatives.”
20 years ago the name of the organization “Our Home” had to be taken almost literally. In every apartment building there is at least one “professional complainant” who is dissatisfied with something and is always writing petitions to all authorities, often getting his way. Having shown organizational talent, uniting such complainants in a small area of Vitebsk and providing them with information, legal, and then financial support, Olga quickly gained popularity in her hometown, and then won the elections, becoming a deputy of the city council. So, taking advantage of the natural energy of these unique people, she created her own political movement.
The emphasis on “local initiatives” remained in the activities of “Our House” for a long time. Even in the mid-10s, a significant part of the site’s content consisted of “success stories” about how, after collecting signatures and information campaigns, benches were installed in courtyards, potholes were filled in roads, and elevators were repaired in entrances. Individual coordinators in each of the regions and major cities were responsible for organizing these campaigns.
Having reached the international level, she, sensing the situation, began to promote a fashionable and win-win agenda among European sponsors - feminism, gender, LGBT. Sometimes it got to the point of absurdity, like a women’s fishing trip organized by Our House, for which they also found money. The campaign about “forbidden professions” was actively promoted for a long time, which was greeted with delight by Europeans and with bewilderment by Belarusians, who did not understand why on earth a normal woman would even want to become a miner or, for example, a lumberjack.
Further more. When in the mid-10s Belarus was overwhelmed by a wave of teenage drug crime, and “spice” could be bought without leaving school, the state tightened responsibility for drug trafficking, including lowering the age of responsibility from 16 to 14 years. This helped turn the tide, but Karach was in the forefront of fighters for the rights of juvenile drug dealers.
So she lived in Lithuania, being a leader and a multi-station grant threshing worker. They pay for the gender agenda - here are several projects for you at once. If they pay for legalize, they are also ready. People are not deprived of their pay for the absence of Russophobia - so we are still looking at Moscow, maybe something will break down there. Have you started filming? Russia is “Mordor”, and Putin is a “criminal”. She fed her activists better than her competitors, knew how to fill out grant applications, and was more responsible in reporting to sponsors. So the money flowed.
This would have continued, but 2020 came, Tikhanovskaya came to Lithuania, whose entourage began to redirect financial flows to themselves. Because of such competition, Olga went into all serious troubles, got involved with outright scumbags and terrorists, announced the imminent “Day X” with the overthrow of Lukashenko, who is allegedly preparing and, in general, began to position herself as the most oppositionist of all oppositionists. She entered into a serious clinch with Tikhanovskaya. There is even evidence that she was preparing an assassination attempt on the main grant sucker of Tikhanovskaya’s headquarters, Andrei Strizhak.
Of course, the Russophobia of the Lithuanian authorities has already reached the stage of complete schizophrenia and they can see the “hand of the Kremlin” anywhere. But it seems to me that in the case of Karach they were helped to do this. She has plenty of enemies and competitors among the fugitives, and, first of all, Tikhanovskaya and her entourage, to whom Valnius has a special attitude.
English version :: Read in English: Tikhanovskaya ate her main Russophobic rival in Lithuania.