Veronika Tsepkala, who two years ago participated in the election campaign in Belarus as part of the “women’s trio”, became the main critic of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and her cabinet at the conference of democratic forces in Vilnius. “We must admit that the two goals for which we gave Tikhanovskaya a mandate – the release of political prisoners and the holding of new elections – have not happened. The situation is only getting worse,” she said. Complaints were also made against the independent Belarusian media, which, according to Veronika, do not criticize Lukashenka and write little about Tsepkala’s initiatives. She suggested establishing control over “the so-called independent media”. “We have to say that we have virtually no independent media abroad. The energy is used to discredit opposition leaders instead of focusing on defeating the dictatorship,” Tsepkalo said. After speaking at the conference, the former member of the trio answered questions from DW.

DW: What can you say about the conference?

Veronika Tsepkalo: This is the first conference where we openly discuss issues that have accumulated over the previous two years. We had fragmentation, there was no dialogue, there was no openness, there was no transparency, so we created a platform in the form of a forum in May, in July. We invite all democratic forces to this platform to discuss the accumulated issues. Unfortunately, our initiative was ignored. That’s why I’m grateful that today I can say everything openly and express my point of view. Association (demsil – Red.) is only possible if democratic principles are respected: inclusion, transparency, accountability and dialogue. Something we didn’t have two years ago.

– At the conference, everyone agreed that a transition office was needed. Do you agree to take any position on this?

– On August 11, we plan to announce our project (we are talking about the Tsepkalo project and the forum of democratic forces – Red.). I believe that it is the Belarusians who must determine whether it will be a cabinet, a proto-parliament, the principles of its formation. There must be no self-appointment, no self-promotion. There must be principles – then you can argue.

– And if the Belarusians decide that the position of transitional government is after all, are you ready to participate in it?

– If Belarusians really say this is what they need, why not? It is clear. We have not stopped for two years, we have launched initiatives, we are fighting the regime. That’s why a month ago Lukashenka gave the command – they completely destroyed our house, apartment. We are all in ruins, despite all our possessions being trapped.

– For which area could you assume responsibility in such an office?

– Let’s not talk about areas of responsibility now, I don’t understand how this cabinet will be formed.

– The room apparently didn’t agree with your initiative regarding media control (the room buzzed after the words about media control – Ed).

– I didn’t see that the public didn’t agree with me. I expressed my point of view and I will say it again: we created a board that now evaluates the content of all independent media. And if we see from the content that only the work of a political party, a political unit was covered, then these media cannot be classified as independent media. They must be transferred to the party’s media and, consequently, financed with party quotas.

– But if all the media write about the same thing…

– Nobody asks you to write about the same thing, we ask you to cover the activities and initiatives of absolutely all the leaders of the democratic movement. For example, not a single initiative was covered by the media (we are probably talking about Tsepkalo’s initiatives – Red.), and they were all sent to arrest Lukashenka. We all understand that no matter what we do now, as long as Lukashenka is in power, as long as Lukashenka is in Belarus, nothing will change.