Tsikhanouskaya says Ukraine maintains relations with Belarusian opposition leaders
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the most prominent Belarusian opposition leader, discussed efforts to maintain relations with Ukrainian authorities in a European Pravda interview published on Dec. 10.
Tsikhanouskaya told European Pravda that the United Democratic Forces parliamentary group has been able to establish good contact and relations with Ukrainian leaders, and while the result has not been as ambitious as she hoped, it is sufficient.
Tsikhanouskaya noted that the group has been meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and advisors to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Since the beginning of the war, I have had this principle: do nothing to harm Ukraine. And if I understand that there are some obstacles to establishing more official relations between the Ukrainian authorities and the Democratic Forces of Belarus, then that's how it should be. There's no need to force it," she told Serhiy Sidorenko during the interview.
She also said that it was very important to expose Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s unreliability.
"What we want is to explain that Lukashenko cannot be relied on, that he will always deceive. And if people think that maybe one day Lukashenko will side with Ukraine, then this will never happen," she said.
Tsikhanouskaya emphasized the importance of a Ukrainian victory, and noted that a free Belarus is dependent on a Ukraine free from Russian aggression.
"Ukraine's victory is the priority. Belarus should not be forgotten, but Ukraine must get all the necessary weapons to win," she said.
Despite receiving popular support during the 2020 elections, the Belarusian opposition leader was kicked out of her country, and her supporters were jailed en masse.
What’s more, Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Siarhei, arrested months before the elections in which he wanted to challenge Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, remains behind bars to this day.
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