On August 8-11, Georgian– and Russian-language Facebook accounts (1;2;3;4;5) shared a video in which the Belarusian opposition politician, Sergei Tikhanovsky, appearing as a guest on a TV program, allegedly says that he used €1,000, donated by the Belarusian people for his campaign against Alexander Lukashenko, to buy a watch and headphones.
A fragment of Tikhanovsky’s interview is being circulated manipulatively with the aim of discrediting the politician. As the full interview shows, Tikhanovsky did indeed acknowledge that he managed to raise only €1,000 out of the intended €200,000, but he joked about spending the collected amount on a watch and headphones. The part of the video where he says he is joking is cut out of the circulated clip.
On August 7, during the BELSAT NEWS broadcast of the television company BELSAT, Belarusian opposition politician and former political prisoner Sergei Tikhanovsky spoke about his past experiences and future plans. In the program, he was asked about his plan to raise €200,000 for a campaign against what he called “Lukashism.” Tikhanovsky explained that the first “powerful blow” was cancelled because he did not see sufficient support from Belarusians.
“I came forward with a proposal to deliver a powerful blow, but unfortunately, I did not see support on this issue. Belarusians said that we’ve been through this already, we’ve been deceived many times, and we need clear and concrete plans. So this blow was postponed, cancelled. How can I deliver it without any resources? Absolutely no way.”
Tikhanovsky also said that out of the targeted €200,000, he was able to collect only €1,000. When asked by the hosts what happened to the collected funds, he replied that he bought a watch and headphones but immediately added that he was joking.
Host: “You were going to raise €200,000. How much have you raised so far?”
Sergei Tikhanovsky: “At the moment, we’ve collected €1,000.”
Host: “And as of today?”
Tikhanovsky: “As of today, we’re no longer raising money.”
Host: “What happened to the money you had already collected?”
Tikhanovsky: “I bought a watch and headphones. I’m joking, of course.”
In the Facebook videos, the last part of Tikhanovsky ‘s answer is cut, creating the false impression that he answered seriously and actually used the public donations to buy a watch and headphones. Spreading the video in this way aims to discredit the politician and undermine public trust in him.
Tikhanovsky made his appeal to raise funds for the fight against “Lukashism” on his YouTube channel (“Country for Life”) on July 1. In the same video, he said he was looking for new team members so that, having just been released from prison, he could resume the fight against Lukashenko’s regime and inspire Belarusian youth. In the BELSAT interview, he spoke precisely about the failure of this plan.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
