It is the call of February 24. Not from London, but from Paris, more precisely from the Lithuanian Embassy, rue de Courcelles, where Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa held a brief press conference in the early afternoon. In her speech, like a De Gaulle in 1940, she indicated that she was taking over the presidency of a Belarusian government in exile. “After consultation with the democratic forces of Belarus […]I decided to announce that from today I take all the responsibilities to represent the laws of the Republic and the Belarusian people,” she said.
For the opponent of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, this decision is justified because “the strikes [en Ukraine] were also launched from Belarusian territory, which makes Belarus an aggressor state,” according to the UN definition. Thus “Lukashenko and his regime fully share with Putin the responsibility for this illegal and unnecessary war”. “It is a high betrayal of the interests of our people and of Belarus,” said Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa. As a result, “he can no longer be considered the guarantor of independence and territorial integrity”.
A government without a seat
The opponent in exile intends to “constitute a government as the national authority of the Republic” and assume its functions until “the stability of the country is restored” and a new presidential election takes place.
The seat of this future government was still uncertain, being able to be located in Vilnius, Warsaw or even in Ukraine. This takeover must still, to be effective, obtain the recognition of the international community, which was not the case this Thursday afternoon. Finally, in conclusion of her speech, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa “called on the international community to impose the harshest possible sanctions on the Lukashenko regime as soon as possible”.