{"id":149974,"date":"2025-08-07T15:39:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/149974\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"cichanouskaja-admits-to-accepting-e15000-from-official-says-it-was-under-duress","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/149974\/","title":{"rendered":"Cichano\u016dskaja admits to accepting \u20ac15,000 from official, says it was under duress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Pozirk's screen grab of the Obychnoye Utro show on YouTube)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

August 7, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja has admitted to accepting \u20ac15,000 in cash from a security official before being forced to leave Belarus, following her refusal to accept the official presidential election results in August 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the Obychnoye Utro<\/em> show, Cichano\u016dskaja said she did not open the envelope containing the money until August 6, 2025, shortly after watching a propaganda film aired on ONT. <\/em>The state-run TV station, linked closely to the Committee for State Security (KGB), raised the issue in an apparent effort to discredit the politician ahead of landmark opposition events scheduled to take place in Warsaw this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI swear, I took out the money for the first time yesterday to take a picture,\u201d she said.
\u201cI never asked for any money, and I never asked to be taken out [of the country].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja said she repeatedly refused to accept the envelope, which was handed to her by Andrej Pa\u016dlu\u010denka, then head of the Operations and Analysis Center, a digital security agency. She eventually accepted it under duress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also noted that security agents secretly recorded the moment Pa\u016dlu\u010denka handed her the envelope. Footage of the exchange was shown in the ONT<\/em> broadcast, with some of her remarks taken out of context, she claimed, to undermine her credibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that encounter on August 10, 2020, security agents reportedly forced her to agree to leave the country, threatening violence against her and her children, who were in Lithuania at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, it was a human decision [to leave the country],\u201d she said. \u201cI took my convictions with me from Belarus. . . . But my inner mother took the upper hand at that moment over \u015aviat\u0142ana the rookie politician. It was my responsibility to protect my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that at the time, she did not know how to resist the pressure and intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja also recalled that Pa\u016dlu\u010denka offered to let her speak with Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka directly by phone, but she refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until now, Cichano\u016dskaja had declined to comment on claims that officials gave her cash before her departure from Belarus on August 11, 2020. She previously stated that she would speak publicly about the matter at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 presidential election was followed by months of mass protests against alleged vote rigging after \u0141uka\u0161enka claimed victory with 81 percent of the vote. The government cracked down on the protests and continues its campaign of repression to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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