Zolkin on Babaryka and Kolesnikova: This is a White Guard opposition, like Yashin and Kara-Murza

Preview of the video interview with Viktor Babaryka by Ukrainian blogger Vladimir Zolkin.

In a stream on his YouTube channel, Vladimir Zolkin noted that after the release of his interview with Viktor Babaryka, he was attacked by Belarusian media and ordinary social media users.

The main complaint is that the blogger behaved incorrectly with Babaryka, or even forced him into the interview.

As the blogger noted, such accusations are insulting in their very logic.

"Are you really so stupid that, knowing this person can come to Europe (...) and tell everyone that you forced him, you would actually force him? Seriously? It's a bit of an offensive question, really," Zolkin fumed, emphasizing that no one forced anyone to do anything.

The blogger ironically described how, according to critics, this coercion might have looked:

"Babaryka comes in, sits down with me, I pull out a pistol, point it at his temple and say: 'Babaryka, quickly tell me whose Crimea is it! But wait! Don't tell me whose Crimea it is, just say you don't know'."

According to Zolkin, he traveled 300 kilometers to Chernihiv to attend a press conference because, as a Ukrainian, he was interested in only one thing: whether these people could be perceived as an opposition to Lukashenka.

The answer for him was obvious:

"For me personally, it's clear that at this moment, Babaryka, with such views, cannot be perceived as a serious opposition to Lukashenka, an active one – not one that will simply talk in French restaurants, like Kara-Murza and Kasparov recently argued in a French restaurant, but one that will actually do something. Yes. That's what I needed to find out, and I found it out for myself."

As Zolkin states, he demonstrated this to other Ukrainians who might have placed some hopes on Babaryka. He "didn't draw any conclusions for anyone. That is, he showed it – draw your own conclusions."

The blogger suggested that anyone interested should come to Babaryka and ask him whose Crimea it really is.

He reminded that back in 2020, Babaryka had not resolved this issue – and, as the blogger believes, has not done so yet.

"And I think it's not a fact that he will ever figure this out, because in 2020, no one prevented him from dealing with this issue," Zolkin added.

"White Guard Opposition"

The Ukrainian blogger emphasized that he is not concerned about Viktor Babaryka's fate. Zolkin only has one practical question: "Can we somehow interact with them to overthrow the Lukashenka and Putin regimes, or not?"

"At this moment, I say – no. Tomorrow, perhaps, they will change their plans, say: 'We will help the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment', and I will say: 'Oh, okay, they get it'. But for now, we have nothing to talk about."

"I don't understand what Belarusians want from me. Deal with them, do what you want. I showed this story for Ukrainians. So that they could see what kind of people these are," the Ukrainian blogger emphasized again.

Zolkin does not deny that "the story was a bit emotional," because he remembers a similar situation after the release of Russian opposition figures Yashin, Kara-Murza, and Pivovarov. Then, according to him, many in Ukraine also hoped that they would become an active opposition and begin to really help the armed struggle against the Putin regime:

"But they are simply neither fish nor fowl. Jelly."

In the same vein, he placed a part of the Belarusian opposition:

"Such as them, and such as these Babaryka, Kolesnikova — they really need to gather somewhere in a French restaurant, pour a shot of vodka, raise a toast: 'Your Nobility, Lady Luck', hug and cry."

Zolkin characterized such a model as the "White Guard opposition":

"White Guard opposition, understand? To talk, and to talk not specifically – that is their concept. And to definitely do nothing."

***

Vladimir Zolkin is 44 years old. He is a lawyer by education. He was sentenced to 14 years for intentional murder. Zolkin did not admit guilt, trying to prove that it was an ordinary fight that ended in the victim's unfortunate fall. After his conditional early release, he became a blogger. Zolkin gained popularity thanks to his channel, where he publishes interviews with Russian prisoners of war. He talks to people, and then calls their relatives in Russia and asks why they sent their loved one to kill Ukrainians. These videos gather millions of views.

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