Despite Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s support for the Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Belarusian opposition keeps trying to have a conversation with Putin.
Belarusian opposition leader Svitlana Tikhanovskaya wants to meet with Putin and seeks a good relationship between her country and Russia, she said in an interview with the Ukrainian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Nov. 28.
“We want to present our point of view and hear Russia’s position regarding the situation in Belarus,” said Tikhanovskaya.
Earlier Tikhanovskaya said that she wants Putin to be one of the mediators between the Belarusian opposition and Lukashenko.
Putin’s spokesman, however, said that Russia’s leader has no intention to meet Tikhanovskaya, since “she hardly takes any part in the life of Belarus.”
Belarus has been in turmoil since the August presidential election, where Lukashenko, who rules the country since 1994, proclaimed himself the winner. The opposition believes that Tikhanovskaya was the real winner of the election. Millions of Belarusians have been protesting every Sunday since August, demanding the transfer of power to Tikhanovskaya, who promises to immediately hold a fair presidential election.
Lukashenko’s law enforcers have been cracking down on protesters violently, killing several people, and injuring and jailing thousands.
Russia is one of the few countries that has recognized Lukashenko as the winner of the presidential election, with Putin congratulating the Belarusian dictator and meeting with him in Russia.
Tikhanovskaya thinks that the Kremlin’s demonstrated support for the Lukashenko regime is Russia trying to maintain contact with an important neighbor.
Moreover, the opposition leader says she doesn’t believe that Russia can invade Belarus to support Lukashenko.
“I very much doubt that any such invasion is possible,” she told RFE/RL. “There is no need for it. Our fight isn’t about geopolitics, it is directed against one person, against his regime and dictatorship. Our revolution is absolutely peaceful. So what invasion are we talking about?”
Tikhanovskaya, who has been welcomed by Western leaders, has been insistent that she doesn’t want to be seen as an anti-Russian candidate. In the past, she has struggled to come forward with a firm position on Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
“According to international law, Crimea belongs to Ukraine,” she told RFE/RL on Nov. 28.
As for Crimea’s real affiliation, Tikhanovskaya said, “We are, where we are.”
“The foreign policy of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is very clear: to keep all the doors open,” Tykhanovska’s adviser on international affairs Franak Viačorka posted on Twitter on Nov. 28. “We view Russia, EU, and U.S. as our strategic partners. We are looking for friends not enemies.”
Tikhanovskaya plans to visit Ukraine in the near future, although she has not yet announced the date of the visit.
Ukraine has been supporting Belarusian protests. On Nov. 20, Ukraine and six more countries joined the European Union’s sanctions against Belarusian officials for rigging the presidential vote and carrying out violent repressions against peaceful protesters.
