“She found herself in this situation for personal, not political,”
Russia's Sofia Sapega told Belarusian television that she did not consider the Lukashenko regime to be her detention. In her opinion, she and her friend Roman Protasevich could fall victim to their colleagues in the fight against the Belarusian authorities. Recall that the girl is accused of inciting social hostility and strife, as well as group events that grossly disrupt public order. She faces up to 15 years in prison.
Photo: Social Networking
Sapega was confident in front of the cameras. She looked into the eyes of the TV presenter, her voice did not tremble and sometimes she even smiled. In general, she was not at all like a political prisoner who threatened to spend about half of her life in prison.
Sapega said she went to Greece to rest in May with Protasevich. Coincidentally, Svetlana Tichanovska, the leader of the Belarusian opposition, was there at the time, speaking at the local economic forum. When Protasevich found out about this, he decided to work as a politician photographer, says Sapega.
During the interview, the girl emphasized that she had never fallen into politics and now she does not want to accuse anyone of anything. At the same time, from an interview given earlier by Protasevich, she concluded that the Belarusian security forces were not involved in her arrest, but someone from the opposition. Russia also announced that there are no KGB officers on board their aircraft. It is true that Sapega emphasized that she would finally be able to assess the situation only after it was all over.
Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of the CIS countries, ruled out that the Russian woman's statement about the non-involvement of Belarusian special services in the incident would be under pressure. “If we compare it to Protasevich, then Sophia Sapega was initially in a much more neutral position.” Most likely, she found herself in this situation for personal rather than political reasons. The girl was kidnapped by a man, maybe even helped him with something without sinking into the essence. Therefore, I hope that he will be able to return to Russia soon, “said Zharikhin.
On the other hand, the Belarusian political scientist Pavel Usov believes that the conversation is not focused on Belarusian, but on Russian society. “The issue of Sapieha's release has been discussed at the official level, and this interview may show that she feels safe and quite comfortable,” the political scientist suggested. According to him, the girl was initially interesting to the Belarusian authorities only as additional pressure on Protasevich, and not as an independent figure.
The girl had never appeared in the Belarusian media before. But Protasevich often spoke to journalists for a long time. Their plane, flying from Athens to Vilnius, landed on May 23 under the pretext of a terrorist attack in Minsk. Since then, he has been able to accuse Lukashenko's opponents of corruption and moral decay, and instead praised the leader of the Belarusian regime as a strong politician who saved the country from trouble. However, Protasevich is also facing 15 years in prison. On June 25, they reached an agreement with the investigation that allowed them to leave the pre-trial detention center under house arrest.
Alexander Lukashenko himself said during his last press conference that Protasevich was “ordered” by Lithuania and Poland. He admitted that it would have been easier for him if the blogger was not in his republic now, but somewhere abroad, because if the young man dies, the head of Belarus will be charged and it will be difficult to apologize. At the same time, he said that Protasevich is practically free today and can work. As for Sapieha, her father Andrei Sapega had previously asked Lukashenko for his daughter's mercy.
“According to the authorities, Protasevich has done enough to create or supplement the negative image created by the authorities after the landing of the aircraft. Now his resource had been depleted, and Lukashenko had even hinted that if he ran away, nothing terrible would happen. Of course, it is very difficult to predict the decision of the authorities, but there is a possibility that Sapieha will eventually be released. They are still almost free and can do whatever they want, “says Pavel Usov.
Recall that the main mistake of Protasevich and Sapieha is that they were editors of telegram channels banned in Belarus. He was involved in the implementation of Nexta (one of Lukashenko's opponents' key sources of information) and worked with the Black Book of Belarus, where personal data of Lukashenko's supporters flocked: security officials, officials, etc. as a terrorist and stopped air traffic with the republic.