Runaway youth activist survives in Russia working as builder

as they hoped and does not always come in handy.

Mikita Krasnou, former leader of the democratic organization “Free Youth” and one of the leaders of the “Citizen” campaign, has experienced the burden of this forced escape from Belarus. KGB searched the flats belonging to his parents, grandmother and girlfriend at the end of December and he was named in the criminal case on “mass disorders” as a suspect. Then he decided to leave Belarus as soon as possible and left for Russia and then for Lithuania.

To tell the truth, not a single member of the group of Belarusians escaping repressions Mikita went to Vilnius with applied for the status of political refugees. In the first place, everyone was going to return to Belarus as soon as they could and their Belarusian passports would have been taken away during to the procedure, explains Mikita. Secondly, accommodation in the refugee camp does not allow any civil activities. Furthermore, representatives of international organizations and Lithuanian MPs recognized them as refugees de-facto and promised to help the runaways.

However, life in Vilnius turned out to be harder than expected. Mikita had to live here and there in Vilnius for three months and kept borrowing money from relatives and friends.

At the same time, Andrei Lyantsevich, member of Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu’s initiative group and activist of “Movement of the Future”, does not have a Schengen visa and has to survive in Russia.

"I live at my friends’ now. They found me in the street and I got acquainted with them at the railway terminal. I am working as a builder to survive”.