Former Cadet With "Pahonia": It Is Unlikely That Any of My Friends Will Wear a Balaclava

The legendary Yastrambel cadets are with the people.

Last week, Salidarnasts recalled the story of the Yastrambel boarding school's cadets, who made a splash five years ago. Then, four third-year students were photographed in T-shirts with "Pahonia" and, after the publication of the photos in social networks, became famous throughout the country.

After the publication, one of the former cadets, who appeared in the photo, contacted the editorial office. Mikita Hvozdzeu told Salidarnasts about the events of five years ago and how this story influenced its heroes.

- I posted the photo. The guys and I did not discuss whether to upload it somewhere or not, - says Mikita.

According to him, before that history, such photographs in the school were not uncommon, so he did not worry about the possible consequences. Nor did I foresee them. Other cadets had T-shirts and hats with symbols, white-red-white flags.

"I don't regret doing that." The guys seemed to be okay with this too. Then it seemed to us that this is a common thing, patriotism. We thought that such a photo would not surprise anyone," Mikita recalls the events of October 2015.

Mikita is not in the school's graduation photo album for 2017. He said that he took the documents a few months after that story:

- The third quarter after the New Year, I already studied at my native school.

The young man says that his decision to transfer to another school was not related to pressure from the school administration:

- The teachers treated the situation with understanding. It is clear that the director got in trouble because of this. We had an educational conversation, deprived of layoffs for a week for violating the uniform rules.

Our interlocutor says that after that story, the cadets stopped publishing such photos: "The ideas remained in my head, but the pictures did not go anywhere else."

Now, Mikita is finishing studies at university. After graduating, one of the participants in the photo with "Pahonia" left to continue his studies abroad. The other two are studying in Belarus. Young people keep in touch.

- I stayed the same with my ideas. I won't say much about the guys, but I don't think I will meet them on the street in balaclavas.