In 1982 he entered the Belarusian State Technological University in Minsk, but in 1984 he was drafted into the army and served in the Strategic Missile Forces for two years.

[7][8][9][10][6] After completing his military service, Tsepkalo entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs and graduated with honors in 1991.

In 1993–1994 he was a foreign policy adviser to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav Shushkevich, who had a position of the President (Head of the State) at that time.

He co-chaired with William J. Perry, the US Secretary of Defense, a joint US-Belarus commission to dismantle nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and associated infrastructure in the former Soviet States.

[26][27][19] Lukashenko announced the creation of the High Tech Park in 2003, and saw it as a modernization tool to boost industries such as agriculture, education, health care and military defense.

[28] In July 2004, the head of the Presidential Administration Ural Latypov and Tsepkalo gave an online press conference where they described the future park's concept.

[33][39][34] In 2015 a conflict erupted between the government and the HTP administration when the authorities announced a 1% tax raise and tripled its contribution to the Social Security Fund.

[33][40][41] Apart from the active defence of HTP residents and employees' interests, Tsepkalo supported detained IT entrepreneurs on multiple occasions.

In 2016, he voted for the removal of an "illegal business practices" law from the Criminal Code of Belarus, saying that the rule was "a relic of the Soviet-era" that undermined Belarusian developers' position on foreign markets.

[44] By early 2017 the software development industry annual turnover in Belarus reached $1 billion, with such companies as Wargaming.net, Maps.me, Viber among the HTP membership.

[33] In comparison to Ukraine's outsource industry, the Belarusian market was growing 9% faster, while the tax burden was three times higher.

[52] Tsepkalo affirmed his candidacy on 12 May, with a statement that society demanded reforms and the decades of Lukashenko's presidency had led the country into stagnation and indifference.

[54][55][13] Tsepkalo reiterated the need to modernize the economy, end the state assistance to inefficient enterprises, and increase investments in education and health industries.

[70] Tsepkalo responded by saying that his dismissal was linked to his protest against businessmen detentions and consecutive conflicts with the General Prosecutor and Investigating Committee.

[71] Tsepkalo called Lukashenko's comments "an ordinary practice in the current political system" and explained them as an awkward attempt to raise his ratings.

[73] On 20 May 2020, 884 activists were registered by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus and started a campaign to collect signatures in Tsepkalo's support.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell said that it "limits the possibility for the Belarusian people to express their will and already undermines the overall integrity and democratic nature of the elections."

According to the political analyst Pavel Usov, the authorities decided to remove Tsepkalo from the ballot first to disorient people and to create an illusion that Babaryka could succeed.

[89] On 24 July 2020, Tsepkalo fled to Russia, Ukraine, then Poland and finally to Latvia with his children after receiving a tip that his arrest was imminent and the authorities were prepared to strip him of parental rights.

[91][92] On 16 June three opposition forces teamed up under the leadership of Maria Kalesnikava, Veronika Tsepkalo and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who had entered the race for the presidency after the detention of her husband, candidate Sergei Tikhanovsky.

On 24 June 2020, a Belarusian businessman of Turkish origin Sedat Igdegji turned to the General Prosecutor's office with a lawsuit against Tsepkalo.

Answering these accusations, Tsepkalo stated that Igdegji's company failed to uphold the tasks and was suspended by Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich.

In the letter to the General Prosecutor Igdegji claimed that his family members and he had received threats, though allegedly the sue had no connection to Tsepkalo's political activity.

[105] In October 2022, "a group of citizens united under the general leadership of Valery Tsepkalo" was recognized as an extremist formation by the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

[106] On 7 April 2023 Valery Tsepkalo was sentenced in absentia by a court in Belarus to 17 years of prison, a fine and a five-year ban on holding public office.

[111][112] He also wrote an open letter to more than 30 world leaders, including Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin, with a plea to help Belarus conduct honest elections.

[114] Veronika Tsepkalo continued her political activity, she recorded a video statement with a claim to acknowledge Svetlana Tikhanovskaya an elected president and to stop 'the mayhem of violence'.

[126][127] On 27 May 2021, soon after the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident and Roman Protasevich's arrest, Tsepkalo announced a new public initiative that crownfunded a reward for those military or civil activists who would capture 'N1 criminal', meaning Alexander Lukashenko.

As stated by the editors office, later Tsepkalo called off the text of the interview and sent with a courier a censored version with only 8 answers to the journalist's question, instead of 30.

[130][132] There were attempts to edit Tsepkalo's page on Russian Wikipedia in May 2020, cutting off the criticism, Prabook project info, news on leasing on the house, and connections to Lukashenko.