Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya anticipates strong opposition to her country’s possible full participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Our partisan movement will sabotage this. The orders will be refused. Or the Belarusian soldiers will surrender immediately,” the politician said, referring to his country’s possible full participation in the war against Ukraine.
Two years after Belarus’ presidential election was deemed fraudulent, she said Russia, with its support for ruler Alexander Lukashenko, was likely already eyeing the former Soviet republic as a “bridgehead” for an attack. In the August 9, 2020 elections, authoritarian ruler Lukashenko was again proclaimed the winner of the election, sparking unprecedented protests in Belarus. Many see Tichanovskaya as the winner of the election. Due to massive state repression, there are hardly any major demonstrations in the former Soviet republic anymore.
“Lukashenko is a collaborator”
“Lukashenko is a collaborator. He dragged Belarus into this war and now he is doing what he is asked to do to keep Russia in power,” Tikhanovskaya said ahead of the second anniversary of the disputed presidential election. It is now clear that the Kremlin probably already had war plans at the time and therefore left Lukashenko in power. In his exile in Vilnius, the policy criticized that he was leaving Belarusian territory so that Russian forces could attack Ukraine from there.
“But there were also acts of sabotage against important supply routes early in the war. Railway partisans slowed down military transport; and information was given to the Ukrainian armed forces about the bases from which Russian missiles were being fired.” A battalion of Belarusian fighters was also formed in Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
Despite the high pressure of Kremlin expectations, Lukashenko has yet to put the country on the path to war, Tichanovskaya said. “86 percent of people in Belarus are against the war. We don’t have any anti-Ukrainian feelings.” At the same time, she complained of “massive repression”. “Anyone who speaks out against the war is treated as an opponent of the regime.” The situation of political prisoners, including her husband Sergei Tichanowski, in the country is devastating, said the mother of two.
(APA/DPA)