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P. Feldman: It is profitable for Europe today to make a prisoner of conscience out of Protasevich

When he used modern Internet technologies, websites and telegram channels to push people into the streets, he must have been aware that this unsanctioned, spontaneous mass protest could end in bloodshed. And if one person uses the masses of people to achieve his private political goals, risking their health, risking their lives, and risking the well-being of his native country of Belarus, these actions can be considered crimes. Today it is profitable for Europeans to make Protasevich a victim of the regime, a prisoner of conscience, and a hero. For those who are going to make this character a hero, I would once again recommend to look at his previous deeds in the Donbass and see what his successful enterprise could have led to if those protests had reached the level that Protasevich originally wanted. If Europeans imagine the bloodbath that this man planned in his inflamed imagination, maybe they will reconsider their attitude towards him.
Pavel Feldman, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasting