Statkevich to an American diplomat at the border: You only need good PR, and for that, I should abandon my homeland?

Mikalai Statkevich on September 11, 2025. Screenshot from an online camera

Start of an interview with the German newspaper ZEIT: Statkevich: All attempts to force me out of Belarus were futile. I will not leave the country

ZEIT: Actually, you could have been freed a year ago, thanks to a deal between Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenka and US President Donald Trump. Last September, you, along with 51 other prisoners, were brought to the border with Lithuania, but you were the only one who refused to leave Belarus.

Mikalai Statkevich: They wanted to throw me out of my country then. That's a crime! I want to decide where I live myself. Even if it means prison.

ZEIT: What happened then?

Statkevich: I was in a penal colony for particularly dangerous repeat offenders in the city of Hlybokaye, in a solitary cell measuring one by three meters. They put a bag over my head and took me to the KGB pre-trial detention center in Minsk. Then I understood they wanted to deport me. Already there, I said I would refuse to leave the country. Then we, the political prisoners, were put on a bus with KGB officers and driven north — to the Lithuanian border.

ZEIT: And then?

Statkevich: I know that border crossing well, we drove through it many times, my wife loved to go to the flea market in Vilnius. When we left the territory of Belarus, the KGB officers got off the bus. Only the driver and we, the prisoners, remained on the bus. When we stopped in front of the barrier, I stood up and tried to kick out the bus door. Most of all, I was afraid I wouldn't have the strength due to heart problems. But I could. As I was kicking the window, a comrade shouted to me: you need to unlock the door with this button! (laughs) I did — and jumped out.

ZEIT: And for a moment, you were free?

Statkevich: Then I walked back towards Belarus. At some point, an American diplomat and a KGB officer approached me. The diplomat tried to persuade me to leave. I said: you only need good PR, and for that, I should abandon my homeland? I will definitely not do that!

ZEIT: Did you also want to disrupt the deal between Lukashenka and the Americans?

Statkevich: No. It was a personal decision. I'm not an animal that can simply be sold!

ZEIT: What happened next?

Statkevich: They gave me a short phone call with my wife so she could convince me to leave the country after all. I will not allow myself to be forcibly taken out of the country, I told her. She replied that she knew I would do that. But she asked if we could at least hug. I didn't know what to answer. Then she said, crying: "Then at least let our letters through." I understood that everything would remain as it was. But for the first time in three years, I heard her voice and learned that she had beaten cancer.

ZEIT: But the meeting never happened. You were returned to the colony. How did you feel on the way back?

Statkevich: I knew there would be revenge for this. After all, I ruined the media effect of the deal between Lukashenka and Trump. The KGB officers were also very angry with me. I think they themselves would have liked to go to the West, but it is forbidden for them as members of security forces. They pulled a thick balaclava over my face, from which I almost suffocated.

ZEIT: You anticipated the regime's revenge. Why did you go through with it anyway?

Statkevich: I resisted forced expulsion. No matter how harsh the circumstances: a person always has a choice. And ultimately, it was my action that led to political prisoners no longer being forcibly taken abroad upon release. Even if it means they remain under strict control in the country.

ZEIT: Did your conditions of detention worsen after returning to the colony?

Statkevich: I was sure I wouldn't come out alive. In the colony, they stopped giving me the medications I urgently needed after suffering from COVID and due to heart rhythm disorders, which my wife sent. It was thanks to these packages that I knew my wife was still alive. Instead of medicine, they gave me aspirin. As the doctors at the prison hospital later told me, this is what led to my stroke.

ZEIT: Were there moments when you regretted your decision?

Statkevich: (thinks for a long time) No, never. But I know that for my closest ones, it was very difficult.

ZEIT: Why did you want to stay in Belarus?

Statkevich: It's impossible for me to leave the country. It would be like abandoning the millions of Belarusians who still live here.

Read also: Statkevich on "Museum Night" in Minsk: We realized that people were applauding not the saxophonist, but my wife and me

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