A Belarusian Patriot Revealed Who The Main Enemy Is

• 25.04.2026, 22:01

Dmitry Bondarenko set the record straight.

On April 22, a a presentation of a new book by the renowned American historian Yuri Felshtinsky “Natalia Radina’s Belarus: A Journalist Against a Dictator.”

The event was attended by the editor-in-chief of Charter97.org, Natalia Radina, and the coordinator of the “European Belarus” civic campaign, Dmitry Bondarenko, and the event was moderated by Father Vyacheslav Borok.

Blogger Dmitry Kozlov ("Gray Cat") posted a video recording of the presentation on his YouTube channel .

Father Vyacheslav Borok asked Dmitry Bondarenko who, as a Belarusian patriot, he considers his main enemy. The opposition politician explained that after being imprisoned by the KGB following the 2010 Square protests, he was constantly asked why he was fighting against Lukashenko:

— At first, the security service officers really “grilled” us and put enormous pressure on us. But then we just talked, and I’m sure that much of what we discussed stuck with them. We explained that we aren’t fighting against Lukashenko, because today there’s one dictator, but tomorrow there might be someone else. We’re fighting for a free and Belarusian Belarus.

I told them: “Listen, if you were a national Belarusian dictatorship, I might not even fight—though I love freedom so much that I’m not sure about that. But you’re just licking the Russians’ boots; you’re not officers of the Belarusian state, and you don’t care about our country’s security.”

Belarusian prison guards have portraits of Putin and Russian flags on their walls. Back in 2010–2012, when they were trying to recruit us, they cited Denikin, Kolchak, and the Russian philosopher Ilyin. I say: “I am a Belarusian patriot; you are simply unfit for the job.” We have always fought for freedom and independence. We learned this from our neighbors, and above all, from the Lithuanians. That is why, for me, the main enemy is the Russian Empire.