July 13, Pozirk. US President Donald Trump may face challenges dealing with Russia, but Belarus is like “low-hanging fruit for him,” Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja told The Sunday Times.
“The Belarusian people are united around the idea of change. Trump has the power and leverage to bring it about,” she noted.
The politician made this statement weeks after the release of her husband, prominent opposition figure Siarhiej Cichanoŭski and several other jailed dissidents following a meeting in Minsk between Alaksandar Łukašenka and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine. Cichanoŭski was immediately taken to Lithuania with the help of US diplomats.
The Belarusian ruler most likely expected that his release would cause a rift within the exiled opposition, yet he has “badly miscalculated,” said Franak Viačorka, who serves as an aide for Cichanoŭskaja.
While her husband remained behind bars, the politician had to be careful in her statements and actions, but now Minsk has lost this leverage against her, he noted.
A few days ago, the couple published a joint article for Il Foglio, arguing that Western sanctions on Łukašenka’s regime should be kept in place and expanded if needed.
The West should link any normalization of relations with Minsk to “tangible progress, starting with the full and unconditional release of all political prisoners,” they stressed.
