"They will definitely kill you. It’s only a question of time". Since the autumn of 2020 Pavel Latushka has received more than 160 threats — Zerkalo found out how they affect his life
- 6 days ago
- 11 min read
Full textual version of Pavel Latushka’s remarks for Zerkalo
— How many threats have there been over the past year, how often do they come? What do they consist of? And were there ever death threats before?
Throughout my time in Poland we have counted more than 160 threats of murder, bodily harm, kidnapping and other types. Just since the beginning of this year — dozens… The threats became particularly active in August–September of this year. That can be linked to the fifth anniversary of the events of 2020 and to Lukashenka’s task of destroying and discrediting both the alternative institutions of the democratic forces and the most active organizations and their representatives.
The point is that this concerns not only threats of murder, but also real actions aimed at carrying them out. Last year I was informed by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office of Poland about the opening of a criminal case. The investigation in that case is being conducted by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) under the supervision of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, the department for combating organized crime in Łódź. The criminal case was opened under an article that provides liability for incitement of an identified person to commit my murder on the orders of special services. Subsequently, during investigative actions in which I participated as a victim, I was told that this concerned the activities of the Belarusian and Russian special services. This criminal case this year has been split into two parts. One part is incitement to murder, the second part is espionage. Polish law-enforcement agencies also informally told me that there were two threats to life that were prevented at an early stage. You also know that an attack occurred at the University of Warsaw.
We can practically categorize all these threats and actions as follows: there are real actions — the fact of their preparation or execution;
there are real threats that arrive via email, social media, as well as from specific people and are transmitted by various messengers or sources from the territory of Belarus;
then there is psychological impact, when information-psychological special operations are carried out with the aim of demotivating me, creating an atmosphere of danger to discourage me from my activities. And, of course, some threats are written by so-called concerned citizens who most likely suffer from mental disorders.
Specific incidents took place not only on the territory of Poland but also during my stays in Germany, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, when covert photographs taken in various places in those countries later reached me together with corresponding threats. In the Czech Republic there was surveillance of a car, which was also recorded. All these materials were handed over to the law-enforcement agencies of those countries.
These threats, of course, concern not only me; they concern other activists of the democratic forces, many of my colleagues at the National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) and members of the "Team Latushka and the ‘For Freedom’ Movement" faction. One vivid example: in August of this year there was an attempt over four days to recruit 12 employees of NAM. Last week there were three more similar attempts against members of the team and the faction. These actions are carried out using messengers. As a rule they contain offers of material reward, blackmail of relatives, threats of discreditation and other methods. I gave testimony to the Internal Security Agency at the instruction of the military prosecutor of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office of Poland concerning a large-scale attempt to exert illegal influence on Polish territory on employees of the team and the faction. An inquiry into this matter is currently underway.
— How do you perceive such threats? How much do they worry you?
Threats are perceived in different ways. They are large-scale, methodical and constant. There is practically not a week, not a few days, when a threat does not arrive. Of course, each message is perceived differently, and each incident is perceived differently. When I received preliminary information that an unlawful action would be taken against me — right before my speech at the University of Warsaw at an official event attended by representatives of the President’s Chancery, the Polish National Security Bureau, and members of the diplomatic corps — I later heard that someone was running up the auditorium stairs. At that moment I realized he was heading toward me, considering the threat I had read that morning. I will not say I had time to feel fear. Rather, I concentrated and understood, when he looked me in the eyes, that he would strike my head. But he stumbled, and the object he intended to hit me with simply fell at my feet. The deputy head of the Polish National Security Bureau reacted instantly, grabbed and threw the bucket aside, fearing there might be an explosive device in it.
In early September I received a letter saying "the regime is going to kill you. ‘Going to’ means that if everything remains as it is, you will definitely be killed. It’s only a question of time". The message listed, as the author claims, three kidnapped and killed figures of the Belarusian democratic movement who had been under Polish protection, naming Melnikova, Kasperovich and Kotov. The author of the message claims they are "mid-level figures" and continues that "now they will go after the most important ones. And you are definitely next". The methods by which my liquidation (that exact word is used in the message) could happen include a road traffic accident, infection with COVID (as during the epidemic — it is claimed the KGB used such methods to liquidate regime enemies), poisoning. The same message urged me to leave Poland immediately because, as the author asserts, Polish authorities would not be able to guarantee my safety, and to urgently depart for Western Europe or the USA. "At this very moment, this second you must do it".
But let us look at the chronology.
On 18 May 2025 I received information from a citizen of Belarus who had come to Poland. I know his surname; BELPOL established his data. He has three prior convictions in Belarus, including for particularly serious crimes. This citizen passed along word that criminal elements on Polish territory had been tasked with my physical liquidation.
On 19 May I received a written message in polite wording: "I want to warn you that the regime plans your physical liquidation". By the way, this happened on the day Lithuania filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Belarus for organizing hybrid aggression against Lithuania. A few days later I received information from BYPOL that my kidnapping from Polish territory was allegedly being organized.
On 16 June there was an attempt by someone claiming to be a reporter from Novaya Gazeta Europe to request an interview with me and simultaneously with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. After verification we established that such a person indeed works for that publication, but he had sent no interview requests. It immediately recalled the story when in 2022 Pablo Gonzalez — also known as Pavel Rubtsov, a colonel of the Russian military intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, later detained in Poland by the Internal Security Agency for espionage — came to interview me. I remember during the exchange between Moscow and Washington at Vnukovo airport, Rubtsov descended the airstair and Putin shook his hand. At that moment you realize this person had been a meter from you for a long time. Reuters journalists told me they obtained information during the investigation into Pavel Rubtsov that he had established my place of residence in Warsaw and passed it to the Main Intelligence Directorate headquarters of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
On the evening of 1 July 2025 Lukashenka made an absurd public statement that I had planned to burn Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and all opposition leaders alive. Reaction? We laughed and forgot. No — the next day I received a threat. And on 2 July an attack occurred at the University of Warsaw when the attacker shouted that I wanted to make Tsikhanouskaya’s children orphans. After that I received an email from a "collective KGB" saying this was only the first sign and later there would be extermination. These are several addresses from which I permanently receive threats. I call them the collective KGB because they write 24/7 and react to various events in the democratic forces connected with me.
The attacker at the University of Warsaw confesses on video that he acted under external pressure.
I began to regularly receive messages that my own people will kill me for planning to burn the entire opposition.
We immediately hear propaganda calling for violence against me and other representatives of the democratic forces, promising amnesty on the territory of Belarus for those who do so.
After that incident the threats significantly intensified.
On 9 July the Supreme Court of Belarus recognized the United Transitional Cabinet as a terrorist organization. It should be noted that Prosecutor General Shved as the basis for listing the UTC as a terrorist organization used the thesis that the Cabinet engages in activities directed against the military and political leadership of both Belarus and Russia. After that, on 16 July the KGB added me and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to the terrorist list. In the regime’s perception this possibly legalizes their unlawful actions — allegedly under the pretext of combating terrorism.
On 16 July a direct death threat was received.
On 6 August a film appeared on ONT in which former KGB chairman Valery Vakulchik and Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Karpenkov claimed I had supposedly prepared this burning. A fake story, but it creates grounds for possible provocations.
All of August we were under systemic pressure from the special services — as I mentioned above — recruitment attempts, threats to relatives, evacuations of families from Belarus. At the same time fake stories are published claiming my email accounts were hacked and as a result there are alleged leaks of personal data and mass arrests of Belarusians by the KGB in Belarus. This is already part of an information-psychological operation aimed at discrediting the team and creating psychological pressure.
On 9 August I received from the collective KGB the message "See you soon at home".
On 21 August Anatoliy Kotov disappeared — although he had not interacted with our team or communicated with me and members of our team for four years, we still consider this and, I think, everyone who continues the struggle considers it a definite challenge from the regime.
On 30 August the Karpushonok case began, aimed at continuing the discreditation of me as a politician. The KGB sends letters to everyone I meet publicly, the content and character of which are designed to discredit me. This is systemic, targeted work.
On 1 September I received a letter that "the Belarusian regime is planning an assassination and you will definitely be killed".
In September telegram channels published information that $1,000 had been offered to splash red paint on me. The price rose to €1,000.
On 9 October information appeared that I and my colleagues at NAM, as well as other activists and representatives of the democratic movement, were added to the list of persons wanted by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
On 10 October pseudo-oppositionist Kanopatskaya proposed detaining me in Poland and exchanging me for Andrzej Poczobut. We remember that on 31 March 2023 Lukashenka publicly said he was ready to exchange Andrzej Poczobut for me and NAM. On 2 August 2024 the former Polish Minister of Interior Mariusz Kamiński stated in an interview with Polish television that during closed negotiations with the Lukashenka regime on the release of Andrzej Poczobut the Belarusian regime officially proposed exchanging me for him. Kanopatskaya’s proposal is a continuation of that story, fabricated by Lukashenka and implemented by the KGB.
On 20 October the Ministry of Information included the Telegram channel "Team Latushka and the ‘For Freedom’ Movement" in the list of extremist materials.
Between these dates other messages arrived with threats and attempts at discreditation. Hundreds of pages would not suffice to describe it all. This has continued for five years. We also remember that, thanks to the Cyber Partisans, it was established, among other things, that on the floor below NAM’s office, at Polish language courses, for a month two officers of military intelligence of the Belarusian Ministry of Defense attended, who also attempted to make contact with NAM employees and analyzed the security situation around our team.
Last week I testified at the capital police command at the instruction of the Warsaw district prosecutor regarding a direct public death threat against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and me. Thanks to BELPOL it was possible to identify the person and his personal data. The materials have now been forwarded to the district prosecutor’s office of Poland. Literally today I also handed over, at the request of the Warsaw district prosecutor, additional facts, testimonies and documents of all unlawful actions against me and NAM employees for the adoption of procedural decisions. At the same time NAM employees have also been invited as witnesses in the inquiry into facts of threats to their life and health, blackmail and recruitment attempts. Here I am speaking only a portion of the information, because investigative actions prevent me from disclosing details.
— Do such threats affect your work schedule, travel, increased security? Have you ever had to change plans after receiving a threat?
I will not say I am indifferent to these threats. Certainly, they have a definite impact. I have thick skin, but even it began to crack in August of this year. By the way, we foresaw this massive attack on our team. I spoke about it in an interview with EuroRadio on 24 May 2025 — it’s easy to find on the YouTube channel. Almost immediately after the disappearance of Anzhelika Melnikova there was information that systematic actions against me would take place and that a decision about me was allegedly approved. Today I cannot quote directly or indicate sources of information because that could put a number of people at risk.
My mother and daughter worry most of all. I chose this path of struggle. I understand all the risks. I understand that measures of self-defense and self-protection must be applied for my own safety. This limits my public life to some degree, but it does not affect my principled position or my motivation.
From my sources in Belarus I have received a number of recommendations about what to be prepared for and what actions might be taken against me. Unfortunately, some of them have been confirmed, but I also receive advice on how to behave now. According to the information I receive, the threats are not decreasing. I remember Lukashenka’s words he said to me personally: "I will strangle you with my own hands if you betray me". He later repeated this threat in an interview with Vladimir Solovyov, saying he promised to hang me, adding that it was a joke. I have many goals in life, but one of them is a priority — that Belarus be free and that the person who committed a huge number of crimes against the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples be held accountable for all those crimes.
My work schedule has limited access, but all my meetings and movements are certainly recorded. There are also means to determine my location 24/7. Yes, I remember when a message appeared on the dark web offering €30,000 for my life, I had to leave Poland the same day. Sometimes this must be done. When an attack occurred in Lithuania on one of the Russian activists, I immediately received a call from the Lithuanian MFA offering to ensure my security. But at that moment I was already leaving Lithuania.
I am grateful to many countries that assist me during my stays outside Poland and take these threats quite seriously.
— Do the threats affect your relatives? If so, how? And how do they perceive all this?
Speaking about relatives, I would simply prefer that my mother not read this interview, because it would cause her serious worry.
At the same time I would like to address all Belarusians who are under threat and are being pressured by special services: it is important, if your safety allows, to report this to the law-enforcement agencies of the countries where you live. Everything the Lukashenka regime commits against us is an extraterritorial crime for which it must bear responsibility under international law. This also constitutes evidence in the investigation of the Belarus situation at the International Criminal Court, which, with NAM’s support, was initiated by the Government of Lithuania.
I am aware that the regime will not stop. But I am ready for the blow and despite everything that happens I will continue to do what I must. It is a matter of conscience.
We must realize that we are fighting a machine, a system, a huge repressive apparatus — an apparatus of pressure. At least three Belarusian special services are acting proactively, motivated by financial and ideological incentives. Our structures do not have special measures or special means of protection, but despite that the democratic institutions and many active organizations have preserved themselves and continue the struggle. This is unprecedented. I am proud to know so many people who do not give up despite all the risks and threats. I admire them.
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