Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovskaia accused President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Wednesday of using political prisoners as bargaining chips and said the United States should use both incentives and pressure in negotiations with the authoritarian leader.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovskaia PHOTO: EPA EFE
Tihanovskaia told Reuters, in an interview in Oslo, that “for Lukashenko, political prisoners are just bargaining chips. He wants to sell the political prisoners at the highest possible price“. The opposition leader added that the current situation resembles a “revolving door”: “some are released and others are detained. But we must stop the repression completely”.
President Lukashenko denies the existence of political prisoners, claiming that the people in prison are guilty of serious crimes. However, he stated that he is ready for a “important understanding” with the US, provided the interests of Belarus are respected, and questioned why it should release people it considers enemies of the state: “they might go to war against us again“.
The balance between incentives and pressure
Tihanovskaia welcomed the releases so far and hopes to “good news at the end of the year”. She rejected the idea that the US, which has begun to ease sanctions against Belarus, is rewarding Lukashenko too generously: “The Americans are not naive… They understand what sanctions can be lifted and what sanctions can't be lifted, and their decisions are quite wise.”.
The opposition leader emphasized the need for Washington to combine incentives with pressure: “Our job is to make sure that President Trump has carrots and he's using them right now, but he also has sticks if the Belarusian regime doesn't comply with the … deal. Sanctions can be applied as quickly as possible.”.
The Lukashenko-Putin alliance remains strong
Tihanovskaia rejected the idea that diplomacy could weaken the bond between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We should stop thinking that we can separate Lukashenko and Putin from each other. They have a symbiotic friendship; they support each other, they help each other, for example, to evade sanctions”she said.
“It is not our task to separate or save Lukashenko from Putin. Our task is to save our country, Belarus, from both Lukashenko and Putin”Tihanovskaia added.
A symbolic gesture in Oslo
Her remarks were made on the sidelines of a ceremony in Oslo where the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition Maria Corina Machado, whom Tihanovskaia described as “fantastic and fearless”. The Belarusian leader also carried a portrait of human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, laureate of the same prize in 2022, who is still in prison.
“I want to emphasize that this wonderful person is still in prison and we must make every effort to free him and the other 1,300 political prisonersTihanovskaia concluded.
