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Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 39 yearshas become theleader of the opposition to the Belarusian dictatorship – he says – “for love”. Two years ago autocrat Aleksandr Lukashenko had her husband, Sergey Tikhanovsky, arrested to prevent him from running in the elections. She decides to introduce herself to obtain his freedom and because “there must be a symbol of freedom”. Since August 2020 Tikhanovskaya is in exile in Poland, but continues to hold the ranks of the democratic front.
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Is there a battalion of Belarusian volunteers in the Ukrainian army?
“When the war began, many in Belarus thought they needed to help the Ukrainians, so a battalion was organized. At the moment it is 1,500 men. In reality not just one: they are various in different cities, under the supervision of the Ukrainian army ».
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Will other forces come?
“Surely. Many in Belarus want to help Ukraine and right now they are training in other countries. How many and where they are, I am not authorized to say. Often these are people who need training because they have no war experience. But for sure the number of Belarusian fighters alongside Ukraine will grow ».
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Vladimir Putin says Moscow will let Ukrainian wheat go from ports on the Baltic – reachable through Belarus – if the sanctions against Minsk are lifted. What do you think?
“Lifting the sanctions against Putin and Lukashenko would give them financial relief and a false sense of victory. It would reinforce their belief that violence pays off. It would lead them to exacerbate the repression in Belarus and the aggression against Ukraine. The Russian blockade on ports must be lifted immediately and pressure must be put on Moscow: not on the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples, at the cost of their safety and their future ”.
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Potassium is a major source of revenue for Belarus, whose exports in 2021 exploded by 76%. The sanctions do they work?
«Lukashenko has raised prices, trying to earn as much as possible before a new tightening of the European sanctions. But they certainly had holes in them. Lithuania has already done a lot by banning the passage of potassium to the Baltic. The Belarusian state potash company is now included in the latest package approved in Brussels, so I believe the loopholes have been closed. We are certainly dealing with a regime that is experienced in circumventing the measures. They can set up small companies and triangulate through Kazakhstan or Tajikistan. We need mechanisms for the application of sanctions and constant vigilance ».
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There are hundreds of Belarusian citizens subject to individual sanctions. Are those measures also circumventable?
“Oligarchs can have several passports and travel with them. As for the assets, most of them are located in the Gulf and we are trying to pinpoint exactly where. We need a team of investigative reporters. It is a process that never stops, you need a lot of patience ».
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Do you think that at some point Belarus will be annexed by the Russian Federation?
“A couple of people in the Kremlin, with this idea of empire of theirs, don’t see Belarus or Ukraine as distinct nations. In these years of independence we have understood that we are a sovereign people, with our own culture. But in Russia the imperialist idea remains. In fact, recently rumors have returned that in September there will be a referendum in Belarus for integration into Russia, at the same time as alleged referendums in the so-called republics of Lugansk, Donetsk and the other Ukrainian territories controlled by the Russians ”.
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In his opinion Putin is still steadfast and strong?
«The propaganda is strong. And it spreads messages that affect people. But the new generations know how to find different information, so much so that we see small forms of revolt and many choose exile. But it is difficult to get the real picture, we also see that even the mothers of killed soldiers support the war. It will certainly take decades to restore Russia’s good name ».
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You have two small children who are growing up alone: are you afraid for your life?
“I realized that I’m a target for this regime. But I don’t know how long the hands of the dictatorship are, I just know that I have to be ready for anything. Who would have imagined that Lukashenko would have come to hijack a Ryanair flight between Greece and Lithuania to arrest a journalist like Roman Protasevich? We must be morally ready, because anything can happen ».
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What do you mean?
“You have to figure out who will take care of your children.”
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Did you make plans?
“Absolutely yes, one has to take care of them. If they make me disappear, or whatever. You know, if I always thought about this, it would break me. So I don’t think about it. But it is necessary to understand that it can happen ».
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