Belarus opposition leader warns of Russia’s threat: ‘We know dictatorship’
The exiled leader of the opposition to Belarus’ authoritarian government says her country’s struggle for democracy is also one for its sovereignty as Russia continues to draw Belarus into its war on Ukraine.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to Lithuania in 2020 after President Alexander Lukashenko deployed a severe crackdown on protests against his disputed election win, says Lukashenko’s confirmation last week that “several dozen” Russian nuclear weapons have been positioned inside Belarus is another example of Russia’s subjugation, which has affected “all spheres of Belarusian life.”
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Tsikhanouskaya said the death in February of prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny while in custody has underscored the danger faced by her husband and other political prisoners in Belarus and around the world. Whether Navalny’s death serves as a “green light for dictators,” she said, depends on how the democratic world responds.
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“If the response will not be decisive and strong enough, it will give opportunity for all the dictators to kill their opponents in prison without any consequence,” she said.
She said countries must ensure they are coordinating and synchronizing their sanctions placed on Moscow and Minsk in response to both Ukraine and Navalny’s death to ensure they can’t buy and sell sanctioned materials to each other — a loophole that is being exploited by other allies like North Korea as well.
Tsikhanouskaya added democracies must not waver in their support for Ukraine as it fights to survive Russia’s invasion, noting she can speak from experience about the threat authoritarians like Putin pose.
“We know dictatorship,” she said. “If we allow the beast to prevail in one country, they will not stop there. They will challenge the democratic world further. And believe me, the next doors the enemy will knock will be your doors.”
