At the beginning of the week, a court in Belarus sentenced ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in absentia to 15 years in prison.

Ex-Minister of Culture Pavel Latushko was given 18 years, the leaders of Tikhanovskaya's headquarters were sentenced to slightly shorter terms.

However, all were sentenced in absentia - the convicts left Belarus shortly after the riots began in 2020.

Where is the line drawn between opposition activity and criminal activity?

I believe the answer is extremely simple: if a person acts within the framework of existing legislation, and also does not rely on foreign support, he is an oppositionist.

And if in his speeches through the word calls to rebel, overthrow and shoot, and the Western media shout in a united front that this man is the only hope of the free world, then there is no doubt that we have a revolutionary whose goal is the destruction of the state.

To be honest, I don’t understand who else can have any illusions on this issue after what happened in Ukraine.

Their "Euromaidan" put an end to the history of the independent Ukrainian state.

Immediately after the coup d'etat in 2014, American "advisors and consultants" came to Kyiv, who, in fact, were curators and administrators.

It is now a little forgotten how Washington shuffled the cards of proven “specialists”, attracting either Lithuanians, or Georgians, or even US citizens to work in the government of Ukraine.

And after all, not a single Ukronazi blundered a word: what kind of “independence” is it if the country is directly run by foreigners?

Well, as a result, what happened happened.

Ukraine has completely lost any semblance of independence, lives on Western money, which will have to be given back one way or another, NATO generals command the Ukrainian army, and Ukrainian men die in a senseless confrontation.

There is not the slightest doubt that Belarus, like all other former Soviet republics, was destined for exactly the same role as an anti-Russian springboard if Tikhanovskaya managed to take power into her own hands.

The Gospel of Matthew quotes the rather harsh words of Jesus: “If your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish, and not the whole body be cast into hell.

And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish, and not your whole body be cast into hell.

(Matthew 5:28-29.)

The interpreters of the Gospels usually soften these words and present them in a spiritual sense - they say, be prepared for suffering on the way to perfection, but in the case of states, these postulates work almost literally.

Ukraine was unable to cut off the “European integrators” who seduced it with their promises of European salaries and as a result was plunged into hell.

And Belarus was able to fight off the destroyers and continues a peaceful and calm life.

Even if someone had to be cut off from the state in the truest sense of the word.

For years, Russia ignored those who, with foreign money, called for the destruction of the country.

Moreover, there were many who received a salary from the state, but at the same time, according to the old tradition of the Soviet intelligentsia, they were engaged in anti-state activities with this money.

A special military operation put everything in its place.

Disguised traitors have become apparent, though not all of them yet.

Someone managed to leave, someone went to jail.

At the same time, it should be understood that they would have gone to jail in any country, and in the United States, the terms for similar crimes would have been much longer.

At least those who marked themselves in the storming of the Capitol are imprisoned without any leniency.

Yes, and in Europe they are gradually ceasing to be sloppy with the protesters, indiscriminately using force and sentencing those who attack the police to long real terms.

If the state ceases to defend itself, this state perishes - there are no other ways for the development of the situation, and the whole world, and especially Russian history, tells us about this.

Belarus has defended itself.

The main thing now is that in the next elections the manipulators again fail to confuse thousands of people to participate in protests that are extremely dangerous for the future of their country.

Let us hope for the best.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.