"Neither then nor today do I believe I did anything wrong." Dziadok frankly spoke about his past relationship with a 16-year-old girl
"If it were abnormal, I wouldn't have entered that relationship. In my life, I've done a number of things I'm ashamed of. However, my relationship with Yana is not among those actions."
Mikalai Dziadok. Video screenshot: TOK_talk / YouTube
In February 2025, blogger Yana Stasialovich wrote in her Telegram channel about her relationship with Mikalai Dziadok, which began when she was 16 and he was 29. The girl claimed that during psychotherapy, she re-evaluated this experience and perceived what happened as pedophilia on the part of the blogger. At the time of the post's publication, Mikalai was imprisoned.
In the new episode of TOK, Nasta Roŭda asked him to comment on the situation.
"Why did you think that a relationship with a 16-year-old girl, when you were 29, was normal? And did you consider it normal?" Nasta asked Mikalai.
"If it were abnormal, I wouldn't have entered that relationship," Dziadok replied.
Regarding the remark that Mikalai "could have found a partner who matched his intellectual level, among other things," rather than being in a relationship with a girl who was practically a teenager, the blogger explained:
"I didn't choose a partner from a 'partner market' where I'd go: 'Okay, this one is smart, this, this, this.' As I said, I fell in love with her. When a person is in love, rationality doesn't work very well. I've experienced that myself.
Neither then nor today do I believe I did anything bad or abnormal. And I wouldn't want my words, that I fell in love with her, to be interpreted by anyone as me making excuses. I have absolutely nothing to apologize for.
In my life, I've done a number of things I'm ashamed of. However, my relationship with Yana is not among those actions."
He also rejected accusations of psychological and sexualized violence. And regarding the remark that he doesn't want to publicly apologize to Yana, Mikalai stated:
"I believe that no one has the right to demand public apologies from me for my personal relationships. My apologies can only be between me and my girlfriend."
According to him, he apologized to the girl shortly after their breakup:
"After we broke up, we had a conversation. Not immediately. We broke up more on a conflict. Then, when everything settled down, we met, talked, and apologized to each other. She told me what hurt her in the relationship. I apologized to her. All our conflicts were closed then."
According to Dziadok, they continued to maintain contact, seeing each other quite often even after the breakup.
"When I went to prison, she wrote me letters. She wrote to my wife, asked how I was, said she was worried. So when I was released and learned that eight years later she had claims of this kind, I was very upset," says the blogger.
When asked how his wife perceived this situation, Mikalai admitted: "It hurt her a lot. Much more than me. She was very worried about the hate directed at me, about the public insults. She doesn't have that thick skin that I have. I can just close my laptop and thirty seconds later forget all those numerous insults I read. So it was difficult for her."
"All my comrades knew about this relationship. And no one expressed any complaints to me then."
The interview also touched upon the anarchist community's attitude towards this story. Dziadok noted that he never hid his relationship with Yana: he introduced her to his parents, he met her family, and their relationship was known to friends and associates.
"I didn't want it to look like I was secretly dating a young girl and hiding it from everyone. (...) I wanted to start a family with her. (...) I imagined we would have a long relationship. (...)
All my comrades knew about it (the relationship — NN). I brought her here, there. (...) And no one — I emphasize, not a single person — expressed any complaints to me about it then or said: 'Oh-oh-oh, Mikalai, she's much younger than you, don't date her.'
And now they've decided to show such demonstrative principledness, awareness on this issue, which nine years ago absolutely didn't concern them," the blogger claims.
In response to the remark that societal norms have changed during this time, the blogger stated that he doesn't consider it necessary to adjust his views every time public attitudes towards a particular phenomenon change.
"I don't think I did anything terrible, any crime against a person. I still don't see any great harm in it. Societal norms have changed in nine years, and in another nine years, they'll change again. According to you, I should think one way then, another way now, and then yet another way. Excuse me, I'm not a weather vane. So where do I remain then? (...)
Evolution is when you change yourself, not under the pressure of a conforming crowd. What will be left of me if I constantly adapt like a weather vane to societal norms, which are set by who knows whom for what unknown purposes from where unknown?"
However, he admitted that he wouldn't want to repeat a similar experience now and wouldn't advise it to others.
"But such things happen in life. It happened, well, let it be."
Dziadok remarked that societal norms have reached a point where many today consider it acceptable to intrude on the private lives of public figures.
"I will never accept these social norms. And I don't give anyone such a right. If someone thinks I committed a crime, please, file a complaint against me. Otherwise, mind your own private life."
According to Dziadok, many expect a detailed answer from him to all accusations, and friends who know what really happened urge him to publicly tell his version of the story.
However, he doesn't want to do that. Dziadok claims that to do so, he would have to talk about his former partner.
"I was raised — unfortunately or fortunately — not to speak ill of my ex-partner publicly, and I won't. No matter who she was, no matter how much harm she brought me, I once loved her."