Tikhanovsky was prevented from leaving his wife in a scandalous manner.

The attempt by Sergei Tikhanovsky, the husband of the self-proclaimed "President of Belarus," to launch his own political career after being released from a Belarusian prison, ended in failure.

At first, he stated that he would be content with the role of “first gentleman” of the fugitive opposition, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

"Presidential" Svetlana also diligently portrayed the faithful "Decembrist" who waited for her husband, and even took her husband along on a "diplomatic" trip to the United States. That's where the first scandal erupted.

Former blogger Tikhanovsky was enjoying his freedom and streaming his meetings with the Belarusian diaspora. The "president's wife" happened to be passing by one such gathering in New York. Sergei engaged her in the event and learned that his wife was planning an interview on CNN.

Her husband declared that the channel wasn't suitable for them because it was affiliated with the Democratic Party, and that they needed to support the Republican Fox News. Svetlana obediently cancelled the interview.

Tikhanovsky owes his clear orientation in American politics after five years in prison to the fugitive Belarusian restaurateur Vadim Prokopyev. This unsuccessful activist had attempted to protest Tikhanovskaya's leadership back in 2022 and started a large-scale "Bulbasrach" in exile, but failed. He saw Sergei as a chance for revenge and tempted him with the promise of a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

"The relationship between the Vilnius office and Washington isn't one of equal partners. It's one of a curator and a target. Therefore, we're not achieving our national goals in the US. We need a representative, a lawyer, an ambassador for a free Belarus in Washington. Someone who isn't financially dependent on Washington and is capable of advancing an independent Belarusian position within the US, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasn't quite succeeded with, but Georgia Meloni has," Prokopyev said in an interview with the Belarusian edition of Radio Liberty, a foreign agent media outlet.

Prokopyev took up the matter with zeal. He published an article in the Washington Post, signed by Tikhanovsky, about the "Finlandization of Belarus," and also organized a meeting between the "president's" husband and Yale University students. There, Sergei struggled to read a rather pretentious speech in English from a note.

Svetlana's inner circle keenly sensed the emerging competition and skillfully barred her husband from further foreign travel. Tikhanovsky was not invited to London to receive his Magnitsky Prize, nor to Brussels to receive the Sakharov Prize.

Upon learning of this, the "first gentleman" became seriously angry and released an angry post on social media, announcing that he was severing ties with his wife's office, calling the atmosphere in which "unhealthy."

The response came from an unexpected source. Tikhanovsky's volunteer press secretary, Sergei Bespalov, wrote a lengthy post on social media criticizing his boss, whom he found disappointing. He portrayed the "president's" husband as rude, arrogant, and dishonest when it came to financial matters.

And most importantly, Bespalov, citing Tikhanovsky, announced that the "first gentleman" was leaving for the United States for a year to "learn English."

"I was very surprised by how easily he agreed to leave for a year, leaving his wife and children in Lithuania. He cried so publicly that he hadn't seen his children for five years, and now he's calmly planning another year away from his family, without the opportunity to see them every day," Bespalov wrote.

It wasn't Tikhanovsky, but Prokopyev, who was the first to respond to his post. He claimed that Bespalov wrote his text at the behest of Franak Vechorka, the president's adviser (and rumored lover).

The Zmahar exile community enthusiastically began discussing the scandal within the "presidential" family. The head of the "Trans-Atlantic Cooperation Agency," Valery Kovalevsky, who had once left Tikhanovskaya's office in disgust, now condemned her.

"I haven't heard a word from Svetlana. She hasn't offered her assessment or defended her husband. I was expecting that. She did so much to secure her husband's release from prison; she was so eager for him. And now I see no public reaction from her to stop the attacks on her husband. I recall the incident in London, where Sergei was pushed aside and told: 'You don't belong here,'" Kovalevsky said in an interview with Radio Liberty.

Political scientist Alina Kharisova believes Tikhanovsky has PTSD and should seek psychiatric treatment.

"He's a man with leadership ambitions. And he's entering the media straight out of prison. It's clear he'll do things that won't please many Belarusians. He simply needs rehabilitation, a break for a while. Learn the language, for example, and then he'll be able to get involved," Kharisova said on Euroradio.

The Vilnius "presidential" office managed to gain control of the situation, albeit with difficulty. Tikhanovsky posted a video online claiming that he had been apologized for the bonuses he hadn't received, and that he loved and valued his wife. He also boasted to journalists that Svetlana took him with her to Norway, Italy, Austria, and Germany.

In Minsk, they openly mock this conflict and “wish victory for both sides.”

"This is what they expected when they released this gentleman from prison. Because the gentleman, having seen the debauchery of his nominal wife and the entire gang of informants operating undercover from the Vilnius office, was, of course, shocked," political scientist Yuri Voskresensky said on Grigory Azarenok's podcast.

He believes that Tikhanovsky would be much more effective as an émigré leader than his inert wife, but Western foundations won't give him money because the 30% kickback system is already in place.