Babaryka revealed his relations with Tsikhanouskaya and other representatives of democratic forces
Former political prisoner, banker and ex-presidential candidate of Belarus Viktar Babaryka, in an interview with Delfi, spoke about his relations with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the United Transitional Cabinet, assessed the work of democratic forces in recent years, and explained what he disagrees with them about.
Viktar Babaryka and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during a meeting on February 3, 2026. Photo courtesy of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's press service
Babaryka noted the work that Belarusian democratic forces have done since 2020 — «keeping Belarus on the European and world agenda for six years already since 2020».
Separately, Babaryka highlighted the result of this work in the context of the war against Ukraine.
«Despite the regime's real involvement in the war as a co-aggressor, I still see success in separating the responsibility of the regime from the responsibility of the Belarusian people. And here it can be unequivocally stated that this is undoubtedly the merit of the democratic forces».
At the same time, Babaryka sees a problem in the fact that over the years of emigration, a disconnect has arisen between democratic structures abroad and Belarusians within the country. In his opinion, this was almost inevitable under such circumstances.
«According to all statistical data, three to five years of emigration – if it exists, it begins to live by other interests. It [this disconnect] is observed».
Babaryka sees the main disagreement with some of the democratic forces in the tasks they set for themselves:
«I very often hear: 'Our task is to preserve what we have achieved.' Well, I don't agree with preserving. I believe our task is not just to multiply, our task is still to create usefulness for Belarusians inside the country, despite all difficulties.
«Perhaps this is where we slightly diverge».
Babaryka described his relations with the democratic forces as «friendly neutrality».
At the same time, Viktar emphasized that he is not interested in confrontation within the democratic environment, because «he is fundamentally not a supporter of any war, because war simply consumes a lot of energy and is aimed at destruction», while he «is still a supporter of the creative process».
He considers such conflicts particularly senseless given the limited resources of the Belarusian emigration.
According to Babaryka, no criticism has yet been voiced by him towards the democratic forces of Belarus, only questions.
«Unfortunately, I did not hear answers. What was voiced was criticism of the question itself,» Babaryka replied.
As an example, he cited the reaction that his questions were compared to an auditor's check.
«Sometimes I really like the criticism: 'Babaryka asked a question like an auditor.' And I always say: 'And I don't really understand, why is an audit a bad thing?'»
«In fact, auditing in general is a cool story. (...) What is the value of an independent audit? It is precisely in the truthfulness of its assessment. But not here. They say that being an auditor is bad».