OP-ED

Brian Whitmore: Spring showdown looms in Belarus

By Brian Whitmore.

Published March 4, 2021 at 8:34 am

Members of the Belarus diaspora and Ukrainian activists hold up white and red flares during a rally in support of the International Solidarity Day With Belarus in the center of Kyiv on Feb. 7, 2021.

Photo by AFP

If there is one thing that everybody seems to agree on, it is that Belarus is headed for a very hot spring season. In a message posted on Telegram on February 22, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on Belarusians to take to the streets for mass demonstrations on March 25, accusing the country’s strongman ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka of causing a “terrible crisis in Belarus.”