Briefly

  • Both the Belarusians who left and the Belarusians who remained do not have a definite answer to who we are and where we are going.

  • When the new members of the Coordination Council began to be convened, I decided that this was the place where I could implement my view of the world.

  • I didn't believe that an old man who was completely out of his mind could cause such trouble in the whole world.

    Now I know it.

    I think that people 90 years ago were also very impressed by Hitler's behavior.

  • It has become quite important for me that Belarus should be Belarusian-centric.

    And that is why Belarusian literature, Belarusian language, Belarusian history are much more important than the history of the Russian Empire and Russian culture.

"I am now an independent entrepreneur, as I have been accustomed to be all my life"

— Aleksandar, we last spoke with you in December 2021, when you had just left Belarus after four and a half years of imprisonment and headed the direction of international business at the startup hub "Imaguru".

Tell us how your life has changed in more than a year?



- For three or four months, we worked with the startup hub "Imaguru".

I am very grateful to the co-founders of the startup hub for giving me the opportunity to work until the beginning of spring 2022, and since then I have another job.

I work as a blogger, as an expert, as an economist, and also have several educational projects in the field of economics or business.

Soon we will launch a small business course for those who are just starting out in business.

That's why I'm now the kind of independent entrepreneur that I've gotten used to being all my life.

Advice from Knyrovich: How to speak Belarusian

- And another very important change in your life.

You speak fluent Belarusian with me.

What was the impetus?



- I understand that I still speak Belarusian very modestly, that I have a small vocabulary, too many Russian idioms, and I still need to work on accents and endings.

I take part in our public and political life and believe that each of these people should speak Belarusian... Two of my three projects, which are shown on YouTube and on the Belsat TV channel, are entirely in Belarusian.

Another project is my personal choice.



- Many Belarusians want to switch to the Belarusian language, but do not do so, because they are afraid of making mistakes or for other reasons.

What is Alexander Knyrovich's advice on how to speak Belarusian?



- As it was for me.

I am sitting in the Euroradio studio, and one question after another comes to me for each edition: when will a Belarusian speak Belarusian?

And sometime in August, I got a little tired of these questions and answered: "Everything, from the new year, and it will take place in the Euroradio studio."

If you promise yourself that it will happen either from February 1 or from March 8, and you will go for it, then you will have no other choice.

Make a promise to yourself and start speaking Belarusian in your life, maybe one day a week, maybe at home, where you are not so afraid, where you are not so ashamed of your mistakes.

“People need to know the truth;

they have to learn and they have to have fun"

- You are a popular blogger.

I read you regularly and watch you on social networks.

Do you know your audience?

What challenges do you face in blogging?



- Now are difficult times, we are in the same position as people in the Soviet Union, when they can receive information, but cannot react to it in any way, because it is dangerous, for this you can go to jail.

Therefore, I have three goals.

First, people need to know the truth.

Second, they have to learn gradually (that's "How the economy works" in my case).

And thirdly, they should have fun.

In such dark times, they should have some reason to smile.

I can see how the audience of my YouTube channel KNYROVICH is growing.

The permanent audience is ten to fifteen thousand.

There are publications that collect more.

And I am very grateful to every viewer, especially those who write messages.

They write to me: we can't say anything, we can't react in any way, we are cornered, but speak, write for us, because it is very important.

That's why I continue to do it.



I also have a weekly program on "Belsat" about economic news, as well as every week on Fridays on "Euroradio" - on-air conversations over a cup of coffee about events in the economy and public life.

"This is some kind of attempt to create a parliament"

- You became a member of the reformed Coordination Council.

Were you invited or did you ask for it yourself?

What was the motivation?



- This is my personal motivation.

There are not so many figures left in Belarus and abroad who have certain experience in various fields.

Talks about how to help someone from political figures or have some kind of public activity went on all year.

I have sympathy and respect for all political figures who continue their work even in these difficult times.

At the same time, I understand that I don't have much time to work every day, and this is a big and difficult job.



When they started convening the new Coordination Council, I decided that this is the place where I can implement my view of the world, including things like the separation of powers and collective work.

Of course, this is not the parliament yet.

He will be when the elections are held.

But this is an attempt to create a parliament.

I have hope that something will come of this.



A week ago, the first meeting of the Coordination Council took place.

There are still many questions related to the regulations, interaction... Olga Kovalkova announced the reform of the Coordination Council almost six months ago.

Let's see what will happen.

This is the experience of parliamentarianism and the experience of cooperation (I hope) with the Cabinet and other structures.

“What is happening now?

Counter-revolution"

- In the summer, you sent Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya and other political leaders open questions about reforming the democratic forces and received public answers to them.

What is your view on what is happening now with the democratic forces, what are their real opportunities, and what is beyond their control?



- Then I formulated 12 questions to which every representative of the democratic forces of Belarus must have an answer.

Then Paval Latushka, Svetlana Tikhonovskaya, and others answered in the way they could answer at that time.

There were questions to which there are answers, and there were questions to which there are no answers and, perhaps, they cannot be.



What is happening now?

Counter-revolution.

Belarus has fallen sharply from the once soft authoritarianism to already mature totalitarianism and continues to fall - the situation with political prisoners, the path to military communism in the economy... But the good thing is that those who left continue to work.

And there is not much in their power.

They can defend before the international community a different view of Belarusians, not the one that the Belarusian authorities have today.

That look is directed to the past, to the BSSR, to the Soviet Union, to the dark times.

But more than half of Belarusians (I am convinced of this and sociological studies confirm this) have a different view, and someone should reflect it and convey it to the international community.



There is a lot of work related to helping Ukraine, helping many Belarusians fighting in Ukraine.

And there are many issues with the diaspora.

All these questions are important to me.

But above them stands another question - the identification of the Belarusian nation.



You and I talked about it a year ago, and nothing has changed in this case.

Both the Belarusians who left and the Belarusians who remained do not have a definite answer to who we are and where we are going.

When the elections took place in August 2020, civil society was very focused around one issue - "Leave".

But this is very little for the Belarusian nation to continue to exist for centuries.



- Is there an answer to this question - who are we and where are we going?



- Not yet.

If we look at sociological polls, we see Belarusian society in four parts.

The first is people who really don't care - there are no more than 20% of them.

A little less than 30% are people with a Russian, Soviet, Imperial-Soviet mentality, and this is the part of society that is very difficult to communicate with.

They rule the country, and they have such great terror.

Lukashenko talks every day about the horror of the fact that they understand that there are fewer of them, that they stole the power...



There is a part of the society, 10–12% — these are people who associate themselves with national values, with the Belarusian language, with the Belarusian language.

The rest, the largest part of Belarusian society, are people for whom human rights, an independent court, and various other values ​​of any normal person come first.

And they don't have an ideology, an identification, something that can keep them together for a long time.

This is a big challenge for me.

"The majority of Russians are affected by Z-disease, Z-syphilis, which is transmitted by airborne droplets"


- What did the war change in your picture of the world?



- I did not know that it could be so.

I did not believe that it could be so.

And I didn't believe that an old man, who was completely out of his mind, could cause such grief in the whole world.

Now I know it.

I think that people 90 years ago were also very impressed by Hitler's behavior.

This is a great evil.



Now we have this experience.

And thanks to God, thanks to Ukraine, thanks to the whole world helping Ukraine, we understand that evil is not absolute, that the second army of the world is not any second, but the 22nd or 32nd army, and that this evil will be overthrown, that this has both a beginning and an end.

But everything is very serious and difficult, and you have to live with it.



Although most of them are now affected by this Z-disease, Z-syphilis of some kind, which is transmitted by airborne droplets, I still believe in Russian society as well, that they will be able to get through this and will be able to defeat this fascism within themselves. .

"Belarus should be Belarusian-centric"


- How has the attitude to Russia, to Russian culture, to Russian society changed?



- I had no doubts, so there are no disappointments.

Having lived this year, I did not really revise my views, but it became quite important for me that Belarus should be Belarusian-centric.

And that is why Belarusian literature, Belarusian language, Belarusian history are much more important than the history of the Russian Empire and Russian culture.

Russian culture and history should be studied in a number of world cultures.



Talking to Ukrainians and feeling more and more, I understood them.

Now there is a war in their country, and that is why they have a very deep desire to erase everything Russian - Brodsky, Pushkin, and all those who did not know, did not wish harm to Ukraine.

Now everything Russian is being deleted from Ukraine.

I do not support this opinion regarding Belarusians.

I think we can find another way without erasing all those who have done a lot of good.



I cannot erase from my life Grabenshchikov, Brodsky or other figures who had an impact on me, on my view of the world.

They cannot be the main ones, but I don't want to cross them out, I'm sorry.