In a recent YouTube video ad, a man named Sergei Dalivelia sits on a wooden chair, his hands tied behind his back. He looks straight to the camera and, in a shaky voice, apologizes for criticizing the government of Belarus and President Alexander Lukashenko. “I posted offensive comments online,” he said. “I very much regret this. I regret that I wrote this without thinking.” Clicking on the ad took the viewer to a pro-government Telegram channel titled Zheltye Slivy.
