Lukashenko – now the dictator takes revenge: a meeting with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya of Russia’s “dealer of death” now makes art

In the fall of 2020, Svetlana Tichanovskaya was about to do the impossible. She, the housewife and mother, took on the virtually untouchable dictator Alexander Lukashenko in the Belarusian presidential election – and won hands down.

However, she was not able to overthrow the ruler in Minsk. Lukashenko remained in power with the help of Vladimir Putin. Tikhanovskaya, on the other hand, had to flee the country.

After the stolen elections, tens of thousands took to the streets in Minsk and other cities. Striking: the heavily armed special police units were opposed in the front line by women dressed entirely in white. With flowers in hand against the police sticks.

Since then, the 40-year-old English teacher from the town of Mikaschewitschy in the far south of Belarus has been the face of the resistance against dictator Lukashenko. From exile she continues to fight against the regime in Minsk.

The consequences followed this Monday: a court in the Belarusian capital sentenced Tichanovskaya, who now lives in Lithuania, to 15 years in prison for high treason. Tichanovskaya called the trial “the dictator’s revenge”.

Tikhanovskaya only participated three years ago because her husband, presidential candidate Sergei Tikhanovsky, was imprisoned before the elections. He organized mass unrest in Belarus and incited “social hostility” through his YouTube and Telegram channels.

Svetlana took his place on the political scene. Now she faces a fate similar to her husband’s as she sets foot back on the soil of her homeland.

“We’re Fighting the Same Enemy”

Shortly before the verdict was announced, our correspondent met Tichanovskaya in Vienna. She spoke almost prophetically about Lukashenko’s repressive apparatus: “We are currently living in a gulag,” she said. Belarus is a prison camp. “If you take to the streets, you will be sentenced to two, 10 or 15 years in prison.”

Lukashenko is Putin’s closest ally in his war against Ukraine. From Belarusian soil, the Russian army marched towards Kiev at the beginning of the war.

Within the Belarusian population, however, the sympathies are divided differently: “Our partisans have sabotaged the railway infrastructure in Belarus and stopped Russian military transports. Our people donate to the Ukrainian army. And if you do that in Belarus and get caught – or sing Ukrainian songs, you will go to prison for years,” says Tichanovskaya. “We are fighting the same enemy.”

‘They both have no other choice’

Putin and Lukashenko, says Tikhanovskaya, but also: “They are not friends. It’s a symbiosis. You both have no choice. Putin needs Lukashenko. And for Lukashenko, Putin is the only ally. They have to work together – even though they might prefer to bite each other.”

Lukashenko will not send the army. Tikhanovskaya is sure of that. Putin knows that too. Because the vast majority of people in Belarus are against this war. And the army doesn’t want to fight. The regime and the people are two different things.

Tichanovskaya wants to continue fighting against this regime. She made this immediately clear after the verdict against her was announced on Twitter. She thinks of the thousands innocently imprisoned, she wrote. “I will not stop until they are all released.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)