Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: I am the Belarusian president-elect, and together we will prevail

The West must stop pretending Lukashenko is president. He has unlawfully seized power and should be brought to justice. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the leader of democratic Belarus.

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Andrei, a doctor, opened up one of his daughter’s toys, stuffing inside a USB flash drive containing evidence of what he’d witnessed. As a medic dragged into a war he didn’t sign up for, he suspected the KGB was watching him, making the task ahead even more dangerous.

To avoid suspicion, he asked a neighbor to carry his family’s suitcases out of their building and stash them in a nearby car. Then, late one night, Andrei met his family in a parking lot without any security cameras, and they set off on a 500-kilometer dash for the Lithuanian border.

As they approached the border, Andrei stopped on a dirt road and kissed his wife and girls goodbye. He hoped his family could cross into Lithuania without incident, as — unlike him — they hadn’t been forced to treat Russian soldiers wounded in the war in Ukraine.

Andrei knew his work meant his name was on a list of those banned from leaving the country by Alexander Lukashenko — the tyrant of Belarus and the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He told his family he loved them and then disappeared into the woods. He reached a river marking the border between Belarus and Lithuania and swam as fast as he could, his heart racing.

On the other side, he bumped into an imposing Lithuanian man holding a fishing pole. “Is it really so bad in Belarus?” the man asked. “It is,” Andrei replied.

Exposed by CNN, this case highlights the reality of life inside Lukashenko’s regime. Lukashenko is building a North Korea in the heart of Europe. The KGB publishes daily videos of forced confessions, and journalists now publish their materials anonymously.

Since all independent NGOs have been liquidated, activists are joining “partisans,” regularly conducting sabotage or distributing illegal samizdat — homemade news bulletins. But one has to be careful, as a network of moles snitch on any sign of disloyalty or dissent, and simply having the wrong photo on a phone can have a high price — as much as 15 years in prison.

Yet, Europe’s longest-sitting, most repressive ruler is deeply unpopular. He’s supported by no more than 25 percent of the population who are mostly pensioners, pro-Russian bureaucrats and security service personnel, all dependent on the state for jobs in a sinking economy.

Such dictatorships look invincible . . . until they are not.

I beat Lukashenko in the general election of 2020 before he stole it back with the help of the KGB, the siloviki security forces and Putin.

A democratic Belarus would have been catastrophic for Putin’s plan to invade Ukraine. Therefore, in a bid to prop up his old Soviet ally, the Russian president provided financial support, propagandists, and prepared an invasion force — and in return, he enlisted Lukashenko’s support for the tragic invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko’s backing of Putin’s unlawful war is profoundly unpopular in Belarus. Millions of my people are furious that Russian troops were allowed to march through our country. In April, when the regime admitted over 80 diversions on railways, Belarusian railway partisans helped thwart Russia’s attack on Kyiv. Dozens of them are now awaiting trial, accused of terrorism, and may face the death penalty — Lukashenko has expanded the use of the death penalty for almost any form of dissent.

Belarusians are fundamentally European.

For centuries, we coexisted with Lithuanians, Poles and Ukrainians in one state. Russia’s attempt to separate Belarus from Europe and create friction with Ukraine goes against our historical memory, and our mentality.

Belarusians want Russian troops withdrawn from Ukraine and Belarus immediately. They recognize that Lukashenko is a war criminal and hope he will face justice. Most just want him gone.

In recent weeks, Lukashenko and Putin agreed to deploy a joint military group in Belarus. For Lukashenko, this guarantees his security; for Putin, it’s an attempt to save face. After the embarrassment of the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive, Putin wants to secure Belarus, so that it can at least be sold to his people as a consolation prize. He wants to turn the occupied territory of Belarus into a military base to terrorize Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and the rest of Europe.

We shouldn’t let this happen. Lukashenko has placed Belarus right at the center of this crisis. Yet, it is also part of the solution. Overthrowing Lukashenko would accelerate victory for Ukraine. And there won’t be a secure Ukraine, or a secure Europe, without a free Belarus.

[usa.......]

If she says she is the leader why isnt she in belarus lol