On June 5, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya delivered a lecture at University College London. The event was organized by the Ukrainian youth organization UA.Youth, led by Artur Podsokha. The lecture was followed by an open discussion and Q&A session. More than 120 people registered to attend the event.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke about the 2020 protests, ongoing repression in Belarus, Russia’s role in sustaining the Lukashenka regime, support for Ukraine, and the work of the country’s democratic forces. She also emphasized the importance of education, international solidarity, and preserving Belarusian national identity:
“Hundreds of Belarusians are fighting for Ukraine today. Within the Ukrainian army, we even have a Belarusian regiment. For many Belarusians, fighting for Ukraine means – “We also fight for Belarus. For the future and freedom of both our nations.”
Our enemy is the so-called “Russian world”. Russia doesn’t see Belarus nor Ukraine as independent states. Russians want Ukraine to be the same as Lukashenka’s Belarus – controlled, weak, obedient. Belarus has a strategic importance for Russia – it’s like a balcony over Ukraine, and over Europe. And if Russia decides to escalate, it will need Belarus territory – and a puppet like Lukashenka. This is why Russia supports him.
For me, it’s obvious: if not for Russia, Lukashenka would not survive back then. With Russia’s help, he crushed the uprising. And the Western support was not enough: no one was ready at the time. Putin supported Lukashenka in 2020, and he holds him strongly in his grip today. Now Lukashenka is paying his debt – with Belarus sovereignty. His brutal suppression of the protest opened the path for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. If we had won in 2020, and Belarus became free, the war would probably have never started. Russia would not have a shortcut to Kyiv, and history could go in a very different direction.
Of course, history knows no “ifs”. But even now, six years later, I still feel that this feeling of national awakening is still there. I know that people didn’t give up“.
