Belarusian opposition in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (AP/PA)
An exiled opposition leader from Belarus said his country’s foot soldiers would have to lay down their arms if they were sent to Ukraine under pressure from Russia.
Russia used Belarus as a stage for troops and weapons when it invaded Ukraine 8 months ago. Concerns remain that Belarus’ authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, may agree to send his own troops to southern Ukraine.
Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, exiled in Lithuania since 2020, said Belarus’ leadership is hostage to hardline allies in Moscow who provide political and economic support. It opposes Belarus’ direct involvement in the war.
Moscow has pumped billions of dollars to boost Belarus’ state-controlled Soviet-style economy with energy and reasonable loans. and the West denounced as rigged.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya opposed Mr. Lukashenko in that election, and many thought he had won. She was forced to leave Belarus under pressure from the government.
“Lukashenko, of course, depends a lot on the Kremlin, because it was the Kremlin that helped him retain power in 2020, and right now he is paying his debt to the Kremlin,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
Lukashenko has publicly supported Russia’s attack on Ukraine, prompting foreign complaints and sanctions against Minsk. However, he rejected the hypothesis that Belarus would send its own infantrymen to fight alongside Russia.
However, earlier this month, the Belarusian government announced the creation of a joint “regional grouping of troops” with Russia and some 9,000 Russian troops reportedly stationed in Belarus.
Tsikhanouskaya said there was no evidence lately of a planned Belarusian deployment in Ukraine. The 1,000-kilometer Belarusian-Ukrainian border has been mined, he stressed, and “Ukrainian forces are also preparing for an imaginable offensive” from Belarus.
Meanwhile, many Belarusians volunteered to fight in Ukraine starting with the Kastus Kalinousky regiment. A separate guerrilla movement in Belarus disrupted the movement of the Russian military apparatus through the tracks.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya shaped a closet in exile, and two senior security officials joined her. He invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to shape “an alliance with democratic Belarus,” but has yet to get a response.
Tsikhanouskaya said other people “should Belarus as occupied territory. “
“This is not the time to compare our pain,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Now we are in the same boat. Of course, the scenario is absolutely different; There’s. . . a terrible war there while in Belarus there are political and military clashes. “Repression. But we depend on the fact that Russia does not Ukraine or Belarus to be independent sovereign states.
Lukashenko has cracked down harshly on mass anti-government protests sparked by his re-election in 2020. Police arrested another 35,000 people and brutally beat many of them. Tsikhanouskaya said between 150,000 and 200,000 Belarusians have left the country and that 1,349 political prisoners are lately in prison. .
They come with this year’s Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Ales Bialiatski, founder of Belarus’ largest human rights group, and opposition figure Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who is Tsikhanouskaya’s husband.
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