Sergei Tikhanovsky | |
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| Сяргей Ціханоўскі Сергей Тихановский | |
.jpg) Tikhanovsky (December 2025 inBonn) | |
| Born | Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky (1978-08-18)18 August 1978 (age 47) |
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| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2019–present |
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| Subscribers | 232 thousand |
| Views | 114 million |
| Last updated: 3 May 2025 | |
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky[a] (born 18 August 1978) is aBelarusianYouTuber,video blogger,opposition leader andpro-democracy activist. He is primarily known for his activism against the government of Belarus's long-serving president,Alexander Lukashenko. In May 2020, he announced his intention of running for the2020 presidential election, but he was arrested two days after the announcement, and his wifeSviatlana Tsikhanouskaya then ran in place of him as the main rival to Lukashenko in the contested election. On 21 June 2025, Tsikhanouski was released from prison after US representativeKeith Kellogg's visit to Belarus, after five years of solitary confinement.
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky[citation needed] was born inHorki,Mogilev Region,Byelorussian SSR (now Belarus),[2] and raised inGomel.[citation needed]
He studied at a physical and mathematicalgymnasium,[further explanation needed] then graduated from the Faculty ofPhilology of theFrancisk Skorina Gomel State University.[3]
Tikhanovsky opened nightclubs in Gomel andMazyr and organized concerts, and became engaged in video production, advertising, and music videos.[3]
Tikhanovsky says he became a blogger almost by accident. He organized a farmstead nearGomel and faced bureaucratic hurdles from local, regional, and national officials, then spoke of his difficulties with journalists.[3]
TheYouTube channel "Country for Life" (Страна для жизни)[4] was launched in 2019 and managed to attract 140,000 subscribers during the year. The channel is dedicated to stories of ordinary Belarusians and real cases of entrepreneurs "which will help to build a country for life". Tikhanovsky shoots a video on social and political topics and talks about the problems of people – mainly in the Belarusian regions.
Together with his team in a car with the logo "Real News", Tikhanovsky spent more than a month driving around Belarus and interviewing subscribers, who told him about the problems in the city and the country on camera. The most popular video on the channel (almost one million views as of 30 May 2020) is the story of a woman from the town ofHlybokaye about her life and her attitude toward Lukashenko. Tikhanovsky's YouTube channel also features video interviews with opposition politicians and businessmen.[5] On trips around Belarus, Sergei Tikhanovsky was constantly followed by cars with people monitoring him, presumably employees of the Belarusian special services.[6]
By May 2020, Tikhanovsky's YouTube channel had garnered 140,000 subscribers;[4] by mid-July 2020, it had reached 243,000 subscribers, more than 12 times the number of subscribers to the state-runBelarus 24 satellite channel.[7] Independent anti-Lukashenko bloggers (including Tikhanovsky) were seen by the government as a major threat to its rule, as a media alternative to television, newspapers, and radio, which are principally controlled by the Government, and many were targeted by the authorities.[7]
Tikhanovsky was one of the most prominent opposition leaders during theprotests that began in December 2019 and continued until January 2020. Demonstrations were directed against theBelarusian-Russian integration, and Tikhanovsky demanded to preserve Belarusian independence.
On 9 May 2020, dozens of supporters of Sergei Tikhanovsky held an "Anti-parade" inBabruysk to express their disagreement with theVictory Day Parade inMinsk during theCOVID-19 pandemic. The protest parade took the form of a protest motor rally. Police detained about 15 people after the motor rally.[8][9] Tikhanovsky was detained.[citation needed]
On 7 May 2020, Sergei Tikhanovsky announced on his YouTube channel that he intended to become a candidate forPresident of Belarus, challengingAlexander Lukashenko and his decades long rule.[10][4] Prior to this event, on 6 May, he was detained by theBelarusian militsiya (police) in the vicinity ofMogilev; the police threatened to break the glass of Tikhanovsky's car, and failed to present a certificate to confirm that they were police officers.[11] Prior to that, a crowd of Tikhanovsky's supporters in Mogilev released a member of Tikhanovsky's team from the police.[12] A day later, allies of Tikhanovsky were arrested, including a blogger fromSlutsk, Uladzimier Niaronski.[13] The vans of Tikhanovsky's team including Niaronski were chased by road police and two vans with members of theAMAP special police forces.[14]
After the arrests, Tikhanovsky's supporters held a series of protests throughout Belarus. According to theRadio Liberty, 20 to 30 people were detained inGomel, the home town of Tikhanovsky.[13]Viasna Human Rights Centre reports that at least 19 people who supported Tikhanovsky were brutally detained inMinsk.[13]
After his arrest, Tikhanovsky was held at a temporary detention center in Gomel, nominally due to participation in the rally in Minsk on 19 December 2019 against theintegration of Belarus with Russia. He was ultimately sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment: 15 days of arrest for "participating in an unauthorized protest action" in December 2019, and 30 days for meeting subscribers to his YouTube channel inOrsha andBrest. After his detention, Tikhanovsky announced on his YouTube channel that he intended to run for president of Belarus. However, the Central Election Commission of Belarus refused to register the initiative group to nominate him.[15][16]
After the election commission refused to register Tikhanovsky's candidacy, his wifeSviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (Svetlana Tikhanovskaya), decided to run herself. The initiative group of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was successfully registered by the Central Election Commission of Belarus.[17] Sergei Tikhanovsky became the head of the initiative group to collect signatures for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's participation in thepresidential election.
On 20 May, Tikhanovsky was released from detention.[18][19] Tikhanovsky explained that pressure from activist supporters helped to achieve his release. In an interview with him after the release,Deutsche Welle drew parallels between Tikhanovsky and both the Russian opposition leaderAlexei Navalny and the Ukrainian actorVolodymyr Zelensky, who became the president ofUkraine.[20]RTVI also drew a parallel between Tikhanovsky and Navalny.[21]
Sergei Tikhanovsky began his trips around the country with pickets[clarification needed] to collect signatures for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Tikhanovsky's pickets were very popular and gathered thousands of people.[citation needed] The queue to the picket in Minsk near Kamarouski market was half a mile. Several thousand people also attended the picket of Tikhanovsky in Gomel. Sergei Tikhanovsky announced that he was collecting signatures for fair elections in Belarus, without falsifications.[citation needed]
Sergei Tikhanovsky actively used the slogan "Stop, cockroach!" in his campaign, which was chanted by his supporters. The symbol of the Tikhanovsky's campaign was theslipper. The slogan "Stop, cockroach!" refers to thefairy tale "Cockroach" by Soviet poetKorney Chukovsky about how the "mustached cockroach" intimidated all the animals and became their ruler, referring here to President Lukashenko. Slippers are supposedly a traditional means of pest control.[22]Euronews journalists referred to the events in Belarus as a "Slippers Revolution," quoting Belarusian activistFranak Viačorka using this phrase.[23]
On 29 May 2020, Tikhanovsky and at least eight other men were arrested in the city ofGrodno, in northwestern Belarus, while collecting signatures for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's presidential candidacy, and charged with "organization or preparation for a grave breach of public order."[24][1] Footage and witness accounts show that Tikhanovsky was detained following an incident after a woman aggressively followed and touched Tikhanovsky in an apparently deliberate attempted provocation; two police officers then "joined the woman in her pursuit of Sergei Tikhanovsky" and a scuffle with police ensued.[24] According to theViasna Human Rights Centre, at least 13 people were detained, including two members of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's initiative group and three aides to Sergei Tikhanovsky. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus said that they had opened a criminal case for supposed "violence against police officers."[25] Although Belarusian officials claimed that police were injured, there is no evidence in video footage of any injury.[24]
In response to Tikhanovsky's detention on 29 May 2020, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya demanded the immediate release of her husband, condemning "the 'dirty' provocation" against him; declaring that "the picket was legal and peaceful in nature; and calling the arrest a politically motivated violation of her constitutional rights."[26][27]Amnesty International andHuman Rights Watch have condemned the Belarusian authorities' arrests of Tikhanovsky and the broader crackdown by Belarusian authorities on opposition figures, journalists, and bloggers ahead of the 2020 presidential election, includingarbitrary arrest and detention and pretextual criminal charges.[24][28] Amnesty stated that "The arrest and prosecution of Sergei Tikhanovsky and others detained alongside him are arbitrary, unwarranted and politically motivated" and considers the group to be "prisoners of conscience, as they are detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights."[24]
On 29 September 2020, Tikhanovsky's personalTelegram account noted that his prison sentence inZhodzina had been extended by two more months. The decision was rendered without a hearing.[29][30]
On 10 October 2020, Lukashenko spoke with the imprisoned Tikhanovsky and fellow candidateViktar Babaryka in a four-hour meeting concerning changes to the Constitution. At that time, Tikhanovsky and Babaryka remained in custody.[31][32]
On 30 November, it became known that Tikhanovsky's detention was extended for another 3 months. He was accused of a serious crime that carried a sentence of up to 12 years. Pending his conviction, he could be held in custody for up to 18 months.[31][33][34][35]
On 11 March 2021, the Investigative Committee completed its criminal case investigation against Tikhanovsky, accusing him of using his blog to advocate for the violent overthrow of the Belarusian government.[36] He faced four criminal charges with a sentence of up to 15 years.[37] His trial began in Minsk on 24 June[38] and he was found guilty. In December 2021, Tikhanovsky was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Five supporters (includingIhar Losik andMikola Statkevich) were jailed for 14 to 16 years.[39]
On 21 June 2025, Tikhanovsky was released from prison after US representativeKeith Kellogg's visit to Belarus,[40] along with 13 other political prisoners.[41][42][43][44] All were transported toLithuania, where they were receiving care.[45] In a press conference held the following day, Tsikhanouski called on US PresidentDonald Trump to request that all political prisoners in Belarus are released. He said that he had been completely isolated for five years: "You don't even get letters, not a single call. For five years, I couldn't even go to confession with a priest. No letters, no calls, no priest, no lawyer".[46]
On 22 October 2025, Tikhanovsky and his wife were present in theEuropean Parliament when another jailed Belarusian dissidentAndrzej Poczobut received theSakharov Prize. He told about a necessity to keep pressure on the Lukashenko regime.[47]
In December 2020, Tikhanovsky was named among the representatives of the democraticBelarusian opposition, honored with theSakharov Prize by theEuropean Parliament.[48]
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