Belarus’s exiled leader on how Canada can help in her fight for freedom

Belarus’s exiled leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was an unlikely challenger to her country’s one-man rule. The mother and former teacher put herself forward as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election in Belarus after her husband, a well-known video blogger, was thrown in jail.

Many observers believe Tsikhanouskaya was the victor. But despite widespread allegations the vote was not free and fair, the country’s long-time President Alexander Lukashenko maintains a tight grip on power, bolstered by his ally Russian President Vladimir Putin both politically and economically.

“We managed to build a coalition of democratic countries who are helping us,” Tsikhanouskaya said of her opposition movement. “But Belarusians are still living under a dictatorship. It means that something else can be done.”

Now, as the war in Ukraine passes the nine-month mark, Tsikhanouskaya, on her first official visit to Canada, is appealing to her allies in Ottawa not to forget about her beloved Belarus and its wider significance.

“I do understand that the attention of the whole world is focused on Ukraine, and we fully support this. We know that they are fighting not only for their land. They are fighting for the whole democratic world,” Tsikhanouskaya said in an interview with CityNews. “But without a free Belarus there will be no security for Ukraine, for our western neighbours.”

“I will ask Canada to support a new sanctions package in coordination with the U.S., U.K., European Union due to continuous oppressions and the role of Lukashenka in this war,” Tsikhanouskaya continued. Even before she could, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced Canada would add another 22 Belarusian officials to its sanctions list, “including those complicit in the stationing and transport of Russian military personnel and equipment involved in the invasion of Ukraine.”

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New sanctions were also levelled against an additional 16 Belarusian companies involved in military manufacturing, technology, engineering, banking and railway transportation.

Ahead of Tuesday’s talks with Joly in Ottawa, Tsikhanouskaya told CityNews current Canadian sanctions were allowing Lukashenka and his regime to dodge economic restrictions.

“They’re using Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries to avoid those loopholes,” she said.

When asked what Belarus needs that Canada and the West is not providing, Tsikhanouskaya said, “to feel that we are not abandoned, that we are not forgotten.”

She called for a clear division between the nation’s regime and its people because, as she pointed out, the vast majority of Belarusians are not in favour of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

For Tsikhanouskaya, the fates of Belarus and Ukraine are intertwined. Even without Belarus entering the war directly, she argues as long as there is a Moscow-friendly regime in Minsk, NATO is vulnerable and long-term security in Europe is at risk.

“Canada is a powerful country, and we really need a Canadian voice for a free Belarus.”