Kalesnikava: If people cannot go to Europe, they go to Russia

Today, Maria Kalesnikava is giving a speech at the opening of the Salzburg Festival — one of Europe's largest music forums. The day before, she gave an interview to the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, in which she spoke about how art saved her in isolation and called on Europe to develop a strategy regarding Belarus.

Kalesnikava was released in December 2025, along with more than 100 other political prisoners — under pressure from the Donald Trump administration, which later lifted some sanctions against Belarus. She spent five years and four months behind bars.

The professional flutist said that music saved her in her cell: she "listened" to it in her head for hours, and it carried her beyond the prison walls. "My body was confined, but I myself was essentially never there," Kalesnikava says. During her imprisonment, she read more than 700 books, some twice or thrice: "When you spend time with Montaigne, Shakespeare, or Goethe, you are never alone."

Asked whether resistance is meaningless if mass protests failed to overthrow the dictatorship, Kalesnikava replied that resistance changes people. In 2020, Belarusians saw each other and realized they were not alone, and this feeling of dignity and freedom, according to her, can no longer be taken away.

"You don't fall asleep in a dictatorship to wake up in a democracy. Freedom and democracy are daily work," she added.

A significant part of the conversation was devoted to reflections on what Europe should do.

Kalesnikava believes that the regime's brutality does not mean its strength and that now is the time for a European diplomatic strategy: "Russia is preparing its scenarios for the time after Lukashenka — and Europe must do the same."

She advocates for "purely pragmatic communication with clear goals" with the regime — without recognizing it. She cites the negotiations of the Americans and Emmanuel Macron's conversation with Lukashenka as examples: "If you don't talk, you don't have the opportunity." In her opinion, neutral Austria also has opportunities for negotiations.

However, Europe's main interlocutor should not be Lukashenka, but Belarusian society: "In the long run, it is more important than Lukashenka. There are no eternal dictators."

Kalesnikava recalled that for almost six years, Belarusians have been effectively cut off from Europe:

"If people cannot go to Europe, they go to Russia. They study in Russia, not in Europe. Russia pursues a clear and long-term strategy, especially regarding youth and students."

Therefore, Europe, while remaining consistent in its approach to the regime, must keep its doors open to the people.

"This is not a gift, but an investment in the European future of Belarus," Kalesnikava emphasized.

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