WASHINGTON -- The exiled leader of Belarus’s democratic movement, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has urged Western leaders to be “united” and “decisive” in their resistance to “the imperialistic ambitions of Russia.”
Speaking to RFE/RL on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, Tsikhanouskaya argued that the people of Ukraine are not just fighting for their own country, but also "for the values that democratic countries are based on.”
“Believe me, if we allow Ukraine to lose this war, the democratic world – powerful Europe or the U.S.A -- will be the next to be attacked by dictatorship,” she said.
Tsikhanouskaya, 41, is a former teacher who ran for president in Belarus in 2020 after her husband, popular blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was barred from doing so and imprisoned.
She was forced to flee to Lithuania during a brutal crackdown on a wave of pro-democracy protests that erupted after strongman leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka was awarded a sixth presidential term following an election widely viewed as deeply flawed.
“The fates of Belarus and Ukraine are intertwined,” she told RFE/RL. “We fully encourage NATO countries to support Ukrainians and to give Ukraine everything they need to win this war. But don’t overlook Belarus.”
Tsikhanouskaya said that “dictators” like Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin perceive Western sluggishness and indecisiveness as “weakness.”
“And they think that they can cross red line after red line,” she said, adding that they are challenging the Western world to see how far they can go before there is a response.
“That is why all possible tanks and equipment for Ukraine had to be [there] already yesterday,” she said. “We don’t have time.”
“I am waiting for NATO countries’ unity and decisiveness because that is what the people who are fighting against tyranny, against the imperialistic ambitions of Russia, against the dictators of the world, are waiting for,” Tsikhanouskaya said.