Meet ‘Predator’ and ‘Grandad’, the exiled Belarusians plotting against Putin’s friend
The Kremlin’s delivery of nuclear weapons to the dictatorship has not cowed activists who fled the country in 2020 — and are ready to die for freedom
Predator, left, training in Poland with a compatriot
ŁUKASZ GDAK FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
In a field behind a Polish business park an insurrection is brewing. A group of exiles — electricians and factory workers, young and old — don balaclavas, load dummy assault rifles and crawl through the undergrowth.
“My daughter doesn’t know I am here. I told her I was going paintballing,” says “Predator”, a 42-year old female volunteer at the session in Poznan. But her motive is clear: “I came here today . . . to prepare for the fight for Belarus.”
In 2020, more than a million Belarusians took to the streets to protest against results of an election — widely considered to be rigged — in the largest challenge to President Lukashenko’s regime since he rose to power after the break-up of the Soviet
