Belarus opposition leader explains country's 'transition between autocracy and democracy'

Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told a National Press Club audience Tuesday that her country will become “a success story” and is “a present example of the transition between autocracy and democracy.”

Her first visit to the United States came amid continuing unrest in Belarus and ongoing attacks on the media. in his introduction of Tikhanovskaya, former Club President Myron Belkind said evidence indicates that she won an overwhelming majority of the popular vote last August to unseat incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. Lukashenko claims he won by a landslide.

Tikhanovskaya has appealed to other nations to recognize her as the legitimate president of Belarus. 

“[President] Biden says the world now is struggling between autocracy and democracy,” Tikhanovskaya said at the Club’s first in-person Newsmaker event since the pandemic began. “Belarus is at the front line of this fight at the moment.”

During her time in Washington, she met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as well as lawmakers from both parties. She told the Club audience she was warmly received.

Tikhanovskaya ran for president after her husband was arrested and imprisoned for declaring himself a candidate for the top office. When Lukashenko claimed victory last year, she fled Belarus to neighboring Lithuania with their two young children.

Tikhanovskaya has already reached out to the European Union, Canada and other nations to pressure Belarus to stop arresting journalists and dissidents and their friends and families.

“Standing up for human rights and the rule of law is not interference in our country,” she said in justifying her outreach to other nations for support: “This is our problem and we have to solve it by ourselves with the support of democratic countries.”

Two months ago Belarus triggered global outrage after Lukashenko ordered the forced landing of a plane carrying journalist Roman Protasevich and his partner, Sofia Sapega. In imprisoning journalists, Tikhanovskaya said Lukashenko took his revenge on journalists who “dare to do their job.”

Belkind said the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Belarus last week to stop harassing and arresting journalists only to learn that the following day government security forces raided offices of independent journalists and Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

A Washington Post editorial Tuesday urged President Joe Biden to meet with Tikhanovskaya “to put muscle behind his pro-democracy rhetoric.” The editorial called her “Belarus’s rightful leader.”