What Russian oppositionists are taught at seminars in Lithuania

Solidarity activists Taisiya Alexandrova, Anna Kornilova and Yuri Nabutovsky ( they were searched on Tuesday ), according to the Investigative Committee, participated in seminars on seizing power (using the example of “color” revolutions) in Lithuania. The investigation believes that these seminars are related to negotiations between Georgian politician Givi Targamadze and oppositionists Leonid Razvozzhaev, Konstantin Lebedev and Sergei Udaltsov. PublicPost found out, on condition of anonymity, from a participant in this seminar how it took place and why searches were carried out at Kornilova, Nabutovsky and Alexandrova.

— Who organized the seminar in Lithuania?

A friend from Solidarity invited me there, and the seminar itself was organized by the Center for Eastern European Studies . It took place near the city of Trakai, and it upset me, I really wanted to see Vilnius and thought that the seminars would be there. To be honest, I considered this trip as an opportunity to visit Lithuania, I had never been there before, I wanted to see Vilnius and wanted to relax. All this lasted four days.

Reference

The Center for Eastern European Studies (CEE) is based in Lithuania. It was founded in 2006 by Vilnius University. It is headed by a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Lithuanian Parliament, Mantas Adomenas . CIVE is a non-governmental non-profit organization. The main goal of this organization is to build civil society and democracy in Eastern Europe. The center conducts research on political, economic and social development in the region, organizes conferences, seminars and round tables on issues of civil society and democracy. In addition, he conducts lectures and consultations with people and organizations from Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

In 2007, the Foundation for Democracy and Assistance to Developing Countries was founded on the basis of the Center. The Adomenas Center participated in monitoring elections in Ukraine and Georgia . Conducted joint Lithuanian-Belarusian round tables on various scientific issues, for example, about the higher education system in Belarus . Conducts seminars for foreigners on election monitoring and non-violent protest.

Mantas Adomenas is 40 years old, he studied in Vilnius and Germany, wrote and defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Cambridge, where he taught philosophy. Adomenas is a member of the Fatherland Union party - Christian Democrats. He advocates tough measures on the part of Lithuania and the European Union against the regimes of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko . Heads the parliamentary group “For Democratic Belarus”.

— Was this some kind of training camp?

No, it was an ordinary hotel, small rooms with shower and toilet, very cold rooms. It was hellishly cold and damp. We were given the usual lectures. There were several visits there, several groups came, the usual international educational program: lectures on election observation, on nonviolent struggle in countries with dictatorships, such as Zimbabwe, for example, or Iran. We were told how leaderless movements were created in other countries, how people self-organized to fight dictatorship. One group of guys from Russia attended a seminar on observers, another on nonviolent resistance.

— Have you been told how to act in Russia?

No, not a word was said about Russia. These were rather historical lectures. They told us what was happening in Ukraine and Georgia. I didn’t hear anything new; all this can be read on news sites or listened to at a lecture on history at the Russian State University for the Humanities or at a seminar on political science. We were not given any leaflets or papers at the end of the seminars.

— That is, they didn’t tell you how to organize a revolution in Russia?

No, we were told for a long time how to determine whether there is a dictatorship in a country or not, based on which branches of power the president relies on, how the media works to disguise the dictatorship, and so on. They also told us how to organize an action correctly, that it is necessary, for example, to make a press release before the action and a post-release after. To get the action noticed. Banal truths. It has been said that modern nonviolent resistance must be open to the media and that it is actually built on the principles of network marketing, which are used by brands such as Avon and Oriflame.

— The Investigative Committee claims that in Lithuania they were preparing people to seize power, they gave you some papers, took your contacts for reporting, determined who was responsible?

Everything that the Investigative Committee said was lies and paranoia. Two people simply spoke to us, as far as I understood, university professors who worked in the elections in Ukraine and Georgia, and talked about what they saw with their own eyes. They told us not about the seizure of power, but about Mahatma Gandhi. Open his biography in the ZhZL series - this is a short course they told us. There was even a moment when one of the participants in the conversation from the guests began to talk about an action unauthorized by the authorities, the lecturer stopped him and said that they were against this kind of action and people should act within the law. “A good action is one,” he said, “that is not aimed at physical resistance, but at bringing the ideas of the movement to more people.”

— Were there any practical classes, did you say that the classes were 4 days?

We only had training on creativity, we came up with different original and cool options for promotions. This type of game. They gave us an example of an action in which in Serbia they brought Milosevic a pink cake for his birthday, with a crime against his people written on each piece of the cake. I believe that it is impossible to prepare anyone in 4 days. In our army, they can’t even train a soldier in a year, and now they want to say that girls and students listened to four lectures on history and turned into different people, into militants? This is nonsense.

— What did you do after the lectures? Did other people communicate with you besides those who were at the lectures? Did Givi Torgamadze stop by?

It's funny about Givi, yes. No, he wasn’t there, and I’ll say right away that we didn’t discuss any questions about money. After the lectures, we, like all young people, relaxed, drank beer, listened to the frogs croaking, there were a lot of them on the street. There was no one else there except the lecturers. When we left, they didn’t even ask us for our email address, and we didn’t give any information about ourselves at all.

— In Moscow, searches were carried out at the premises of the participants of these seminars - Alexandrova, Kornilov and Nabutovsky. Why did the investigation choose them?

According to my information, the arrested Konstantin Lebedev pointed to these people in his testimony. He gave a testimony the size of War and Peace. He knew these people from the first group who went to training for election observers. He also told investigators about these seminars. In what way, I don’t know, but it can be assumed that the Investigative Committee is able to draw the necessary conclusions for them even from the fact that the training took place.

— How many people can now be under threat of search and arrest in connection with these lectures?

From 30 to 100 people. I don't know the exact number. Depending on the wishes of the investigators.

— Did these seminars and lectures give you anything?

I was actually bored. They didn't tell me anything new there. And if we talk in general about the fact of the trip and whether it is shameful to communicate with people from other countries, then I would ask, what do the officials who go to the UN or PACE do, what do they do there? Don't they really communicate with foreigners? For example, Dmitry Rogozin worked there for quite a long time, returned and began lobbying for military affairs, for whom is he doing this? The authorities have no questions for him. And he was there for more than 4 days.

— A logical question, did you attend the seminar, were you on Bolotnaya Square after it and did you even participate in the “March of Millions”?

It's funny, but no, of all the actions I took part only in the action on December 10th. Because I believe that any action should have a goal. It would be logical to celebrate the inauguration of a person to the post of president, whom the opposition considers a usurper, with an action closer to the authorities, and not on the useless Bolotnaya Square, remote from the centers of power.