In an interview with the Polish TV channel TVP World, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed how modern Belarus is similar to Stalin-era Belarus and called for comprehensive international support and decisive action from the democratic world.
Here are the key quotes from the interview:
📌 “Belarusians live in an atmosphere of tyranny and terror. It’s like in Stalin’s times – you can be arrested anytime. No one in Belarus can be sure they won’t end up in prison by the end of the day. People who oppose the dictatorship or speak out against the war in Ukraine have also become enemies of the regime”.
📌 “We do not know the exact number of political prisoners because people who are charged with politically motivated offenses do not want to be recognized as political prisoners, as they are treated in prison much, much worse”.
📌 “Putin views Belarus as just another region of Russia – his property, not a separate country. He wants to erase everything Belarusian from our country. And Lukashenka aids him in this”.
📌 “The Belarusian people expect greater decisiveness from the democratic world. Dictators perceive the indecision of the democratic world as weakness”.
📌 “No war, no struggle can be won alone. We need the help, support, and solidarity of the democratic world because we are fighting not only against our dictator – we are fighting against dictatorship as a phenomenon”.
📌 “For 30 years, the regime tried to convince the Belarusian people that NATO is our enemy, that the European Union is the ‘rotten West’ that wants to take us over. Now we are trying to explain to people what true democracy is, how it works, and why Belarus is part of the European family”.
