Belarus opposition leader urges Boris Johnson to impose tougher sanctions on Lukashenko’s regime

The Belarus opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, is meeting with Boris Johnson today to ask the UK to tighten sanctions on her country. Tsikhanouskaya hopes that more stringent sanctions will put greater pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko. Under Lukashenko’s presidency, Belarus has not had free or fair elections, and is often described as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’. 

Tsikhanouskaya’s meeting with the Prime Minister comes after a similar visit to the US. She pressed Biden to strengthen the sanctions against Belarus, saying that she was sending a ‘message to the regime’ that there will be no “so-called ‘normalization’ until all innocent people are released and new elections are held”. 

This call for tougher sanctions comes after the country was gripped by protests last August. Lukashenko held a presidential election, but Tsikhanouskaya’s supporters believe that the vote was rigged. Lukashenko – who has been president since 1994 – won by a landslide. Prior to the election, two opposition candidates were jailed, and one other left the country.

Tsikhanouskaya registered as a candidate in the place of her husband, Sergey Tikhanovsky. Tikhanovsky is a long-time pre-democracy activist, and was arrested two days after announcing his intention to run. His trial began in Minsk in June this year.

Tsikhanouskaya – a former English teacher – was Lukashenko’s main opposition, and was repeatedly threatened and intimidated during the campaign. Belarusian authorities made threats to place the couple’s children in a state-run orphanage. Tsikhanouskaya went into hiding before the day of the election – only re-surfacing at the polling station. She has lived in Lithuania since the election to protect both herself and her children. 

Belarus is already subject to sanctions from the UK, the US and Europe since June when it forced a Ryanair plane flying over its territory to land in Minsk in order to arrest Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. 

The EU now prohibits Belarusian airlines from entering its airspace, and European airlines are advised not to fly over the country. Asset freezes are in place on those associated with the regime, but Tsikhanouskaya has argued that the efficacy of economic sanctions on petroleum products, tobacco, and potash is limited by the number of exemptions. 

Tsikhanouskaya’s visit to the UK comes only days after the Belarusian sprinter Krystina Timanovskaya refused to return to Belarus after criticising her coaches on social media. Timanovskaya was taken to the airport in Tokyo by team officials, but refused to board the plane. She has been granted a humanitarian visa by the Polish government. Timanovskaya has been anxious to stress that her motives are not political, stating that “I love my country and I didn’t betray my country”.

But Tsikanouskaya told the Financial Timesthat this was the latest in a range of measures taken against athletes by the Belarusian authorities after the IOC banned Lukashenko from Tokyo 2021. “Since August, dozens of athletes have been jailed, fired and forced to flee the country”, she said. “No athlete can feel safe”. 

Only this morning Vitaly Shishov – the leader of a group that help those fleeing Belarus – was found dead in Ukraine. Shishov was found hanged, but police are investigating possibilities other than suicide. 

Thus Tsikhanouskaya’s renewed plea for tougher sanctions come at a highly pressing moment.