Joe Biden received this Wednesday at the White House the Belarusian opponent in exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, in Washington for ten days, a strong mark of support strengthening the credibility of the one who claims to have won the 2020 presidential election.
“The United States stands alongside the Belarusian people in their quest for democracy and universal human rights,” the American president said in a tweet accompanied by a photo showing him conversing with the opponent.
The leader of the Belarusian opposition, in the United States for ten days, explained to AFP that the meeting had been “an inspiration for (her) people”. Treading the floor of the White House sends “a message to the whole planet that the most powerful country in the world is with us”, she added, seeing “a success for all Belarusians who are fighting”.
Increase pressure on Lukashenko
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who entered politics after her husband’s imprisonment and who claims to have easily won the Belarusian presidential election of August 9, 2020, told AFP that her intentions were not to ask the American president to recognize her as legitimate president, but rather wanted to increase the pressure on Alexander Lukashenko.
“We spoke of several points of pressure on the regime to force it to stop the violence, to release political prisoners and to start a dialogue” with the opposition, she detailed.
Thank you, @POTUS, for a powerful sign of solidarity with millions of fearless Belarusians who are peacefully fighting for their freedom. Today, Belarus is on the frontline of the battle between democracy and autocracy. The world stands with us. Belarus will be a success story. pic.twitter.com/uwmItljDUp
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) July 28, 2021
“Belarus can be an example of a non-violent transition of power”
She also said she spoke to Joe Biden about the need to ensure the “independence and sovereignty” of her country, alluding to concerns about a possible annexation of Belarus by Russia.
Their meeting was an “honor” for the Democratic president, and an “opportunity for him to personally express his support for the people of Belarus,” said a senior US executive shortly after, on condition of anonymity.
Bet won
By managing to visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya turns her tour of the United States into a successful bet.
Arriving on July 18 in the American capital, then passing through New York, the opponent not only met the tenant of the White House, but also his foreign minister Antony Blinken, his national security adviser Jake Sullivan and several senior officials.
To Antony Blinken, she notably sent a list of Belarusian public companies against which the United States should, according to her, issue sanctions or strengthen existing ones. “Only Belarusians themselves can lead the country towards democratic change, but we hope for an active American participation and not only symbolic”, she explained during a round table organized by the Association of Correspondents in the Department of American state.
The United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada imposed new sanctions on Belarus last month after a rerouting in May of a Ryanair flight that resulted in the arrest of a journalist and opponent. Minsk had denounced “destructive”, “counterproductive and vicious” sanctions, and recalled its ambassador to Brussels as well as reduced American diplomatic personnel on its soil.
“The voice of millions of Belarusians has been heard”
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had to flee Belarus for Lithuania after the 2020 presidential election, followed by large pro-democracy protests violently repressed by the authorities. For months, the regime of Alexander Lukashenko has jailed all-out opponents, journalists and activists to definitively put down the challenge born of his re-election to a fifth term.
On Wednesday, on Twitter, she thanked Joe Biden for this “powerful sign of solidarity with the millions of courageous Belarusians who are fighting peacefully for their freedom”.
In a statement published in Russian on her Telegram loop, she said that the thousands of Belarusians “arrested and tortured (…) had spoken by voice during this meeting”. “I leave the White House with the confidence that the voices of millions of Belarusians have been heard. “