The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, and the Governor of the Primorsky Territory, Oleg Kozhemyako. Photo: Yuri Smityuk/TASS
On Friday, November 24, the main news was an information (it was published in many media) with the following content:
“The governor of Primorye, Oleg Kozhemyako, said that, together with the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, he proposed to marry Sofya Sapega and Roman Protasevich, but the young man refused.”
To find out the details, I called the head of the region that same day…
… – Oleg Nikolaevich, we – online – told how the governor of Primorye participated together with Alexander Lukashenko in the fate of a lost Russian girl. In detail, and while she was traveling, while she was driving from the detention center and taking her to the airport. There was information that you allegedly told how he, together with the president of Belarus, proposed to marry Sofya Sapega and Roman Protasevich, but the young man refused. Was this before or after liberation?
– The press, Alexander, always contributes something of its own. This, as they say, proposal (about marriage – AG) did not come from me. This was before.
And we simply explained to the young people (and this was in a discussion club. – AG) that due to their inexperience they could find themselves in a very bad situation, which in the future could affect both their destiny and their life, and on their careers. in the future.
They can get dragged into some unpleasant stories in various ways.
This was one of those stories. And I simply said, as an example, that you have to be very careful with certain proposals that are especially related to political issues.
So as not to ruin your life in the future.
– So the proposal to get married wasn’t the main thing in this whole story?
– No, of course not, what are you talking about? The press came up with something.
The proposal probably sounded… And if it did, it was from someone… from them. But not from me. When they handed it over to us, his comrade (Protasevich-AG) was no longer there that day.
– I remember Sapega and even talked about him retiring. I talked to her then and he told me: I wouldn’t want to remember this person now. It was something like this.
– Yeah.
– But still you participated, as a citizen of Russia, as a governor, in the fate of this girl.
– Yes, our compatriot.
– And her father asked about her.
– Father, yes.
– How are you doing now?
– He lives with his parents, studies, works, everything is fine, everything is fine.
Sofya Sapega after her release and the governor of the Primorsky Territory, Oleg Kozhemyako, in the correctional colony No. 4 in Gomel, in the summer of 2023. Photo: P/s of the governor of the Primorsky Territory/TASS
– You didn’t get married?
– I don’t know.
– Did your father contact you again?
– No, he’s a normal guy, he served in the Marine Corps, an athlete. First of all, I thank Alexander Grigorievich, who showed generosity, and the Belarusian authorities who made these decisions and returned his daughter.
BY THE WAY
Lukashenko signed the decree pardoning Sapieha in June 2023. On June 7 of the same year, she was transferred from the colony to Governor Oleg Kozhemyako.
Protasevich, who was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Minsk Regional Court, was pardoned by Alexander Lukashenko in May. The Belarusian KGB then “excluded both Protasevich and Sapieha from the list of terrorists.”
* * *
– Alejandro, what could be dearer and closer to a father? That is why Alexander Grigorievich, like his father, committed such an act. Young people tend to make mistakes. The most important thing is to understand and forgive, which is probably what was done.
So that mistakes of this type are not made again. What a generous gesture. What a fatherly act.
– And the governor, of course, played his role here.
– What am I doing? As they say, I just went along, that’s all.
Let’s dot the i’s, because this was the main news.
– You are also a journalist, so you understand.
– I still try to stick to the truth, the truth.
– Someone had to pick the berry and serve it. I didn’t even give it importance.
– However… REFERENCE “KP”
Sofya Sapega was detained in Belarus at the end of May 2021 along with Roman Protasevich, one of the founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, recognized as an extremist and terrorist in the republic. The young people were on board a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius and made an emergency landing in Minsk due to reports of mines, which were subsequently unconfirmed.
A year later, the Grodno Regional Court sentenced the Russian woman to 6 years in a general regime colony. She was found guilty under articles of “incitement to social hatred and illegal collection and dissemination of information about the private lives of security forces, judges and officials.” She served her sentence in the Gomel women’s colony. After the verdict, Sapega wrote a petition for clemency, but it was rejected.
WHAT ELSE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE GOVERNOR AND THE POLITICAL ADVENTURER
… – Oleg Nikolaevich, we just returned from Minsk this evening. I went there as part of the Kremlin group, covering the CSTO summit. There was such a snow storm there that you can’t imagine! I don’t know how the planes landed.
– Marvelous.
– We returned from there, and here in Moscow too – snowfall!
– I was in your pavilion in Moscow at VDNKh. Very good exhibition.
There is an excellent variety of products there, there are many people there.
I even asked some of them: where are you from? We are from Moscow, say local residents.
“What’s here?” – “We are here for Belarusian sweets. We really love their chocolate.”
I was happy for them.
– And I watched your live broadcast from VDNKh. Primorye! I was glad. Because for us your land is not strange.
– Primorye and Belarus are related regions. Therefore, let’s say that despite these 9 thousand kilometers that separate us, we are close to each other.
Our children now go there, to receive such a patriotic education, to places of military glory, to memorable places.
This is the Brest Fortress, Khatyn, Buinichi Field, this is the Museum of the Great Patriotic War…
That’s why all of this leaves such a vivid impression on our children.
We also welcome Belarusian children and all sporting events are celebrated with their participation.
We compete in the summer and now there will be the “Children of Primorye” winter games.
And not only Belarusian children will be present, but also children from the People’s Republic of China, also from the DPRK.
We hold international competitions at the children’s level. And the kids really like the opportunity to play for their country.
The Belarusian boys won many medals in athletics. I think winter sports will also be quite difficult for our young athletes.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS