The opposition leader in Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, called on Monday for support from the countries of the European Union and to promote dialogue with the democratic forces in Belarus against the government of Alexander Lukashenko, warning that the situation in Eastern Europe with the Belarusian crisis in addition to the war in Ukraine should not lead to fatigue.
«I ask people all over the world not to get tired of the problems in our regions, in Ukraine and Belarus. We want to develop politically, the same freedoms and rule of law that you enjoy in Europe and it is important that you are with us in this difficult time,» the leader told reporters after a breakfast meeting with the foreign ministers of the bloc.
Tikhanovskaya highlighted the initiative of the Council of Europe to establish a permanent dialogue with the Belarusian democratic forces through the so-called Contact Group, and urged to create similar mechanisms in other international organizations.
In this sense, she demanded the separation of the Minsk regime from the Belarusian society, assuring that the population does not support collaboration in the Ukrainian conflict or that the Russian Army uses the country as a base to launch the attack.
«Lukashenko has to pay debts to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He supported him in 2020 to remain in power. Now he has to take responsibility for war crimes,» stressed the Belarusian leader, in exile in Lithuania since the Belarusian crisis erupted after the August 2020 elections that won the Belarusian president a new mandate and which the international community does not recognize.
In this way, he warned that the repression of civil society continues in Belarus and assured that there are already 1,400 political prisoners, a figure that he said is only growing due to the continuous repression of Minsk.
