Valery Kavaleŭski Валерый Кавалеўскі

"Of course, both the work itself in the Foreign Ministry and the fact that I had a ‘human rights’ direction increased the internal pressure. My internal dialogue continued: why do I remain part of this system when it is so anti-Belarusian, anti-national, anti-state. I did not want to be part of it. At the same time, I saw that I was good at working in this system: I had the necessary skills and a good reputation, I was perceived normally by my partners. I did not want to leave this place, I felt that I could still be useful for our country. At the same time, I realised that there was less and less room to do something useful for my country, and that I was more and more serving the regime, in fact serving the interests of Lukashenka himself."

"Washington is a very politicised city, and what you can do depends largely on the level of relations with the United States. During Lukashenka's rule, Belarus's relations with the United States were very uneasy; they created uncomfortable and wrong positions for effective work in Washington. Nevertheless, I did my job: I had contacts with experts, diplomatic corps, civil servants in the embassy, I had to work a lot with the Congress. At that time there was an initiative to adopt the ‘Belarus Democracy Act’ and my task was to prevent its adoption. I had a whole series of meetings and consultations on this subject with American experts from the Congress. Although, after difficult negotiations, the law was passed a few days later, I was lucky to learn a lot, I understood how this system works, how decisions are made, how laws are passed. I was able to build friendships with my former opponents. I loved working in Washington, it's the best city in the world for those involved in international politics."