What Alina Kharisava is doing after the high-profile KGB scandal and what conclusions she drew from her unfortunate story?

A month has passed since the story broke, revealing that political scientist, former expert of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office, Alina Kharisava, agreed to cooperate with what she believed were Ukrainian special services, but who were actually KGB agents.

Today, Kharisava is no longer cooperating with the Office, but has returned to the Coordination Council and started working with a psychologist.

We spoke with Kharisava again – about what has changed in her life, how she is perceived in the Office and the Coordination Council, and what conclusions she has drawn after this whole story.

"Almost everything was checked"

Alina Kharisava assures that specialists checked all her work gadgets, private Google accounts, Telegram correspondence, traces of cryptocurrency use… — and found nothing discrediting.

Only one old laptop, which she hasn't used for over a year, remains to be checked.

According to her, after Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office officially announces the completion of the investigation, she will be able to publish some of the materials:

"Not everything, because some parts are subject to NDA. But I will be able to publicly show some evidence of what I'm talking about."

Kharisava assures that the checks did not reveal any transfer of information or other violations. Nevertheless, her cooperation with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office has ceased.

Said goodbye to the Office, returned to the Coordination Council

Kharisava says that the decision to take a break was mutual:

"We simply decided that it would be better this way for now. If I were to do something with the Office or the Office with me, it would only harm our reputation at this point. So, cooperation has been suspended for now."

However, she has returned to the Coordination Council. According to her, the "European Choice" faction, which she belongs to, waited for the preliminary results of the check and then supported her return:

"Colleagues awaited the results of the Office's check. Once they received them and spoke separately with those who conducted the check, they decided that everything was in order and we could continue our work."

Alina Kharisava says that she remains in the Coordination Council primarily to work on the international direction. She is involved in preparing the establishment of a permanent representation of Belarusian democratic forces in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and calls this project one of her main tasks.

"I think this is super cool and super important, because the OSCE also has representatives of the regime. It's very good to have a platform where we can talk about what's happening from our side, and where representatives of the regime are present.

Even before joining the Coordination Council, I helped Aliaksandra Mamaeva. She was in the international commission, and I helped prepare documents for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly: I worked on how to appeal to those members of the assembly who have a good attitude towards Belarusian democratic forces, so that they would support certain resolutions.

Essentially, my work doesn't require much publicity. It's not just about someone going to a session of the Parliamentary Assembly. For such a representation to appear in Belarus, a lot of invisible bureaucratic work is needed. And that's exactly what I want to do," says Alina Kharisava.

The situation with the Association of Belarusian Students turned out differently. They also conducted a separate check, but Kharisava herself decided to take a break:

"They asked me if I was ready to continue working. And I said that I really needed a break right now. So we decided that my deputy would work in my place until the end of the term."

But Alina Kharisava will continue to work with the European Association of Political Consultants.

"Ready to pour any dirt on me at every opportunity"

Although Alina Kharisava has returned to work in the Coordination Council, she admits that relations with some delegates remain strained.

"I have things I really want to work on, which is why I decided to stay. I understand that the Coordination Council is about eighty people, and only a minority have some questions for me. But, of course, psychologically it's not easy," Alina notes.

She specifically mentions representatives of the "Nastup" faction:

"We had conflicts a few years ago. And now, at every opportunity, there are certain representatives of "Nastup" who are ready to pour any dirt on me. So I wasn't even surprised that after this situation, they continue to do it."

So far, no official procedures within the Coordination Council itself have been carried out regarding her.

"There was no separate meeting. Commissions have not yet been formed. Perhaps someone in the future will want to raise the question of my exclusion, but for now I continue to work," says Alina Kharisava.

"My first reaction was a huge mistake"

After this whole story, Alina Kharisava says that she has repeatedly replayed the events of the past year in her head and tried to understand what she could have done differently, and what, on the contrary, she considered correct.

When it comes to her own mistakes, Kharisava first speaks about her public reaction after everything became known.

"My first reaction was a huge mistake. I was asked to react very quickly in the public sphere, but I hadn't even had time to properly watch the video (the propagandists' report — NN). And only afterwards, bit by bit, I started to reconstruct what had happened nine months ago. Another mistake was that I engaged in communication," Alina enumerates.

According to her, she now looks differently at how Belarusian organizations should react to similar stories:

"It seems to me that after several years of living in free countries, we start to take such facts less seriously. It seems that everything is fine now, that this cannot happen. But in fact, we continue to be attacked very strongly. I have already shared my observations with colleagues about what I think needs to be improved."

After her own story, Kharisava began to perceive Belarusian propaganda differently:

"I was always interested in how propaganda works, I liked to dissect these mechanisms. But when you go through it yourself, it's a completely different feeling.

I understood that they use manipulation, that they can take a tiny bit of truth, and then build everything else around it. But when it happens to you, you start to realize how effective it is. The most terrible propaganda is not the one that lies completely. The most terrible is when it takes a drop of truth, and then twists it into a completely different story."

According to her, this became one of the main personal lessons of recent months.

"In Germany, they simply don't understand what pressure from a dictatorship means"

While internal checks in Belarusian structures are nearing completion, Kharisava is still awaiting a response from German law enforcement.

A month ago, she contacted the German police. According to her, the reason was suspicions that people connected with Belarusian special services, who are monitoring her, might be operating on the country's territory.

"I was at the police station, they wrote everything down, filed a report. I also showed them the protocol of my interview when I applied for international protection. It meticulously documented everything related to the recruitment attempts. They told me they would contact me in two to three weeks. But there's nothing yet.

I even asked them to write to me specifically by email. After this whole story, I developed a phobia of unknown numbers. Because special service agents also called from hidden numbers. Now, any such call causes very strong anxiety," Alina Kharisava says.

She adds that she does not consider such a delay unusual:

"I spoke with German lawyers, with people who have dealt with similar cases. They say it can take longer. For Germany, this is simply an unusual situation. It seems to me that they don't really understand what to do with such stories.

It seems to me that in Europe, they still don't really understand what Belarus is and what pressure from a dictatorship means. There's a feeling here that if a person has already left, they are safe. But that's not always the case. This also needs to be discussed."

According to her, the main request to the German authorities is to check the information about the possible activities of people who might be working in the interests of Belarusian special services, and also to help with the protection of personal data:

"In Germany, it's very easy to find a person's address. But there is a procedure where the state can hide this information and not allow access to it. I would very much like to be included in such a program during this check."

Pressure from the KGB has stopped

However, Kharisava claims that after her story became public, she expected a much harsher reaction from Belarusian security forces:

"Honestly, I thought something much worse would start in Belarus now. But, surprisingly, relatives haven't been touched yet."

Instead, she says, other attempts at contact continue:

"After this whole story, I and other people started receiving messages from fake accounts. They wrote to journalists, to my colleagues. I also received messages where, I assume, they just wanted to mock me.

There was even an interesting case: supposedly Ukrainian special services wrote in Ukrainian that they were very sorry that I got into such a situation, and asked me to provide them with the accounts from which I was being written to. But the number was registered in Moldova. I just took a screenshot and deleted it."

"I need a break now"

Kharisava sought help from a psychologist and is currently undergoing therapy:

"I was overwhelmed by very strong anxiety. It was hard to sleep, hard to eat. Now I'm working with a psychologist, and it really helps. For the last six months, I only had sleep, the gym a few times a week, and all the rest of the time was work. When all this collapsed, my mind perceived it as losing my entire life."

Despite Alina Kharisava continuing to work in the Coordination Council and not giving up public activities, she is not yet planning to return to her previous pace of life and level of public exposure.

"I need a break anyway now, just for myself. I even notice it in the Coordination Council. I come to meetings, sit quietly, listen to others. If any attacks start, it really throws me off. I need time to deal with this anxiety," Kharisava says.

She admits that even small comments can now upset her for a long time:

"Even if I see a message that someone wrote something about me, that's it, I get the jitters. Someone supports, someone, on the contrary, mocks, and it throws me off track for several hours. I understand that I first need to work on my mind.

This situation has also brought certain changes to my private life. So for now, I definitely won't be very active. I still need to sort out this whole story in Germany, wait for the checks to finish.

After a certain time, I think I will return. Perhaps with a slightly different focus, but I will return."

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