It is our duty to bring our fight to a victorious end

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya speaks at a gathering in Prague in June 2021. Photo: Tony Danilov / Shutterstock

In this way, I wanted to show solidarity with my husband. It was an unexpected decision, both for me and for Siarhei, but also for the Belarusian authorities. It was also from this moment on that these great changes started to take place in my life. It quickly turned out that the responsibility I assumed to express solidarity with Siarhei was bigger than I realised, as seen by the efforts of the thousands of Belarusians who stood in line for hours throughout the country to put their signature under my candidacy. Only then did I realise that I also had a responsibility towards them. Also, once my candidacy was registered, which today I see as kind of a coincidence given the fact that the authorities could have found any excuse not to register me, I met with thousands of people and I better understood that they had great hope in me.

I became fully aware that they count on me and I am accountable to them. And then, after Viktar Babaryka and Valery Tsapkala were refused the opportunity to register as well, I understood that I was responsible for the entire country. Therefore, our staff joined efforts and we pooled our resources to win the election. Unfortunately, after our incredible victory on August 9th 2020, a struggle began with the regime to ensure that the choice made by Belarusians and the results of the elections be respected. This fight continues today. Throughout it all, I have learnt a lot. For example, I acquired the diplomatic etiquette, the negotiation rules and all there is to know about political games. I started to understand politics better. I met with foreign leaders and it turned out that most of them are very open and kind people who care about the citizens in their countries. Of course, they also have their political interests which they have to think about, but this is certainly not at the expense of the interests of the states and nations they represent. The authorities in Belarus lack such an attitude. I want to have this attitude but at the same time remain the perspective of an ordinary person that I have remained after all and I want to continue to remain.

A year has passed since the presidential election in Belarus. It was followed by a wave of protests, a civil and national revival, but unfortunately also a wave of unprecedented repressions. How do you evaluate this past year in Belarus from a political perspective? Should we talk about the failure of society that was unable to fight the regime? Or the opposite? Perhaps, what we have been seeing should be called a success and hope for the future?

During my first foreign visit to Poland, I visited the office of the Solidarnosć trade union. I met its leaders, including chairman Piotr Duda. Our Polish friends told us about their struggle for freedom in the 1980s and expressed hope that our fight will take much less time than theirs did. It is true that back then in August 2020 we expected a quick victory. But now we understand that there are no miracles, no freedom is gained without the hard fight. We understand that our victory in the 2020 elections was only the beginning of the revolution when the people of Belarus expressed their will, but their choice was unfortunately disregarded by the former president. In fact, it would be a true miracle if, after 26 years of dictatorship, the dictator said, “OK, thank you for everything” and walked away. However, that would be the most sensible solution for him. Therefore, in addition to winning the elections, we must also win over Lukashenka’s attempt to stay in power illegally. Victory will come to us in the end, it will be difficult, but certainly well deserved. Undeserved successes are often underappreciated.

Our country has changed so much over the last year that there is no way of going back to what it was before. There are many reasons why Lukashenka will eventually be forced to leave, but the most important one is that he has been halting our country’s development and the people no longer trust him. We are already building a new Belarus. The citizen committee has prepared a draft constitution, which is now open for public consultations. We are working on bills and reforms for our new Belarus.

With the input from our team, the European Union has developed a comprehensive plan to support the Belarusian economy once political change occurs. We also have ByPOL, which is a team of former employees of state security forces that have knowledge on how to renew our legal system and retain it during the transition period. We support the workers’ movement, which unites employees of various plants in numerous cities of Belarus. Our foreign policy is already paying off – we have managed to build a foundation for cooperation with a large number of countries around the world. More than anything else, however, we are continuing our fight to hold new elections because we understand that everything that has taken place so far cannot go in vain. It is our duty to bring our fight to a victorious end.

Do you think it is possible that in the near future the Lukashenka regime will take real steps to unite Belarus with Russia?

This is a very complex situation. Lukashenka has been clinging to power and understands that if Russia takes over Belarus, he will lose it. On the other hand, Russia has been putting pressure on him because without Russian support, Lukashenka does not have sufficient resources to maintain power. I would like to point out here that the citizens of Belarus, in absolute majority, are in favour of preserving Belarus’s independence. That is why I see Lukashenka’s and the Russian authorities’ game of the so-called integration maps as entertainment by some officials who ignore the interests of the people.

I know that Belarusians want to have friendly relations with all their neighbours, including Russia, whose nation they see as close. Therefore, it would be better if the Russian authorities respected the choice of the Belarusian people rather than ignoring them. The unification of Belarus and Russia cannot bring anything other than conflict, because our citizens do not want such unification. We want to be friends and to co-operate, but not become a governorate of a neighbouring country.

You often meet the leaders of western countries. What kind of support do you expect from them?

Over the last year it has become clear that the people of Belarus and foreign leaders recognise the choice that the Belarusian people made in August 2020. Lukashenka is also aware of it, because if he was not, he would not have organised his inauguration in secret with only the applause of his supporters. Only a handful of supporters remained with Lukashenka while hundreds of thousands of people in Belarus took to the streets against him. The Russian authorities are also aware of it. However, why they have decided to support Lukashenka remains a mystery to me. I believe that this is a big mistake. As I said already, the choice of the Belarusian people is known and recognised in most countries around the world. That is why during meetings that we have with foreign leaders, we always discuss the situation in Belarus, we talk about the assistance that could be provided to its civil society, the media and human rights defenders. We also discuss our future co-operation once changes inevitably occur. I always feel solidarity from the authorities and people from these countries.

How can ordinary people show their support to the Belarusian people in their pursuit for freedom? What does the Belarusian public need the most at the moment?

For Belarusians it is very important that people show solidarity with them, especially now when the situation is extremely difficult. We are grateful to all those who organise solidarity actions and host Belarusians who have been forced to flee their homeland. We are grateful to those people who constantly draw the attention of their governments and parliaments to Belarus’s plight for freedom. We continue to ask for support in this endeavour. We are also grateful and thankful to those who raise funds and help the families of political prisoners. All these acts and much more are done by ordinary people from different countries.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the leader of the Belarusian opposition and recognised as the leader of democratic Belarus following the falsified presidential election in August 2020. She was forced to flee Belarus and is currently based in Vilnius.

Paulina Siegień is a freelance journalist writing about the Polish-Russian neighbourhood and general Russian developments. Her latest book Miasto Bajka. Wiele Historii Kaliningradu (City of fairy tales. The many stories of Kaliningrad) will be published later this year.

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