"There were 48 hours to escape" — a blogger from Latvia told why he moved to Minsk

A citizen of Latvia, a well-known blogger Dmitry Mataev told why he and his whole family moved to Belarus. His narration was published on BelTA's YouTube channel of the Honest Story project.

One of the main reasons he called his native Russian, which is spoken in Belarus. And he also moved because there is a "correct history" in Belarus, which honors the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

Mataev said that it was very difficult for him to live in a country where his grandfather, who has medals "For the liberation of Prague", "For the capture of Berlin", who went through two wars — the Finnish and Domestic, considered an occupier, an enemy.

"And in fact, me and my family, my children are being persecuted, including for the fact that I am proud of this feat. Plus, I absolutely do not support the nationalism, the Russophobia that occurs in the Baltic states, when people just survive, go to prison, for example, like me. I was in prison for several videos on the Internet," the blogger said.

He explained that he was just shooting videos and telling the truth about life in Latvia on the Internet. But the authorities saw in all this political motives and justification of war crimes.

According to the blogger, who is the father of three children, moving to Belarus was an opportunity for him to save his family from the Russophobic Baltic regime.

"I got out of prison and literally had 48 hours to escape. I had to go somewhere. I didn't have time to apply for any visas, buy tickets. We just took a minimum of things, jumped into the car and came here. It has a fairly simple design, friendly people. We were met, we were supported, we were helped, and the children will be able to study normally," Matayev said.

As EADaily reported, Dmitry Mataev was detained in Latvia in April 2024. He regularly talked about the facts of discrimination against Russians in a "democratic" country. For this, the blogger was accused of "justifying genocide and crimes against humanity."