In February 2022, propagandist Ksenia Lebedeva released a story with the former administrator of the "97%" chats,

.

Tatyana said in the interview that she was disappointed in the opposition movement and returned to Belarus.

On December 19, from the announcement of the General Prosecutor's Office, it became known that she will be tried, Kurilyna faces up to 15 years in prison, she was accused of calling for sanctions, insulting government officials, rioting, inciting enmity, slandering Lukashenka and other crimes.

What kind of chats are "97%" and how did Kurilina become an admin there

During the 2020 protests, "97%" chat rooms appeared in all cities.

Actions and events were coordinated there, various events were discussed.

Later, district chat rooms "97%" also appeared.

Hundreds of people were imprisoned for their posts.

In Gomli, one of the administrators of the "97%" chats was "Tanka", aka Tatsiana Kurilyna.

Few of the inhabitants of Goml knew her personally.

At the time when Tatiana became an administrator, she had already lived in Moscow for more than 10 years, working there as an accountant.

"97%" chats were actively advertised through the Nexta channel (its creator, Stepan Putila, and the editors were recognized by the Belarusian authorities as a "terrorist organization". — RS).

To Svoboda's question, how this channel is related to the "97%" chats, whether it participated in the selection of their admins, how Tatsiana Kurilyna got there, the Nexta editors answered as follows:

"We did not know each other.

"97%" chats were not handled by Nexta, but by their administrators - we only advertised a few times.

For security purposes, the administrators were never revealed to anyone.

I know that they actively communicated with each other - created separate chat rooms.

We don't know who was with them."

"She didn't look like an agent"

Sergei

(the names of all interlocutors have been changed. — RS) met "Tank" in Kiev in 2021.

"She lived in Moscow until 2021.

In autumn 2021, she came to Kyiv to apply for a visa to Poland.

She lived in a house where many political refugees from Belarus found refuge.

She seemed to me a normal, interesting person with whom you can talk.

She didn't look much like an agent.

I didn't find out anything in particular," says the interlocutor.

Sergei himself later moved to live in Poland.

Soon "Tank" also arrived there, near Warsaw.

"We were in contact.

Tatyana complained that she has health problems, that she works very hard and that it does not add to her health, on the contrary, it takes away from it.

When I found out that she went to Belarus, I was simply shocked.

By the way, she called me from Belarus.

It was justified that BT gave that interview.

She said that she didn't say that, that the story was fabricated and presented as needed for propaganda.

She said that before leaving for Belarus, she deleted all chats, correspondence, and deleted herself from the admins.

She called to assure me that she didn't betray anyone," says Siarhei.

"As far as I know, she was threatened that her sick mother would be imprisoned"

Alena

communicated with "Tank" and met with her in Kiev, because they were admins in some district chat rooms of Goml.

"Her sick mother stayed in Gomli.

The Tatianas threatened that they would "close" the mother if she did not return.

And when he returns, they won't touch anyone.

As the policemen have it, they simply lied and "divorced" her.

I know that before the trip to Belarus, she deleted all correspondence, deleted contacts," says Alena.

The interlocutor adds that Tatiana seemed to her to be a "strange person".

"I'm not saying "bad", but rather strange.

She didn't seem too smart or combative to me, as well as ideological.

I got the impression from her that she is a neophyte who does not really understand what can happen," says the Belarusian.

Another Belarusian, Mariya, told Svaboda that the Belarusian security forces visited Tatiana and they gave her guarantees that the woman would not go to prison after her return.

"They said that the maximum would be "home chemistry".

She went because she wanted to see for herself how it works.

Indeed, she was not immediately arrested.

From February to June, she was free.

She just went to interrogations, gave testimony.

I know that she was offered to leave Belarus, it was possible.

There are many options even under a stay-at-home bond.

But she didn't want to.

Why?

I don't know.

Did she believe the security forces to the last, or something else," Maria shared.

"If she coordinated actions in Gomli, they were necessarily accompanied by roundups"

During the 2020 protests, Ksenia

lived in Gomli and took an active part in all actions, both open and "partisan".

"We had a district chat, one of the admins there was Tanka."

She coordinated many actions in Gomla: where to go, what exactly we will do, and so on.

At first I treated her well.

Then I had some mistrust.

Because as soon as she participated in the planning of actions, especially secret, partisan ones, such actions were accompanied by police raids.

Miraculously, I almost got arrested several times."

Ksenia says that once the participants of the Gomel chats decided to get together to get to know each other and coordinate their actions.

As a result, the security forces also came to this meeting.

"I can't say that Tanka is to blame for all our failures, but it happened.

Then we decided to hold our district actions without her participation.

Although she was too curious: "Where will the action be?"

Maybe you need help, people?".

But we avoided her help.

That's why our district community survived for a long time, unlike other district chats, which were already destroyed at that time," says Ksenia.

Ksenia kept in touch with Tatiana both when she was in Moscow and when she moved to live in Poland.

"Tatiana told me that she was dragged to interrogations in Moscow.

She did not want to leave Moscow for a long time, even though people asked her to, because it was dangerous there.

Many people helped her move to Kyiv and then to Warsaw.

Many helped.

But she only complained to me that it was too difficult for her in Poland, that she had health problems.

That she works very hard.

I was complaining all the time," Ksenia says.

The woman adds that she was also shocked by Tatyana's decision to go to Belarus.

"Just a day before leaving for Belarus, she asked me about the events of 2020: "Do you remember when you held such an event?

Do you remember who participated in it?".

She asked such strange questions.

I have no direct evidence that she was recruited.

But her behavior and questions were at least strange.

If she is imprisoned, let her know that cooperation with the police or the KGB is impossible," Ksenia added.

The police continue to detain Belarusians arriving from Poland

Almost every week, new videos with Belarusians who have returned from abroad appear in Telegram channels connected to the security forces.

The other day, a video with a married couple who lived abroad for two years appeared in one of them.

The video was accompanied by comments from security forces.

"The married couple was forced to come from abroad to take advantage of high-quality free treatment, but were detained for past sins and activities against Belarus as part of the diaspora.

Every foreign extremist is "on the pencil", - warned the security forces.

After the "Road Home" project, which was widely advertised by security forces in the winter of 2021, in December 2022, pro-government Telegram channels are advertising a "new project".

"Are you tired of meaningless rallies and constant lies?

Are you looking forward to getting back home, but don't know how?

You have a chance," its authors write.

They call for going to meetings with representatives of the opposition, recording them on the phone, specifying geolocation and dropping information into the bots of the security forces.

It is not yet known whether anyone took advantage of this offer.