Lithuanian president warns people against judging Cichanoŭski harshly

July 22, Pozirk. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has defended Belarusian opposition politician Siarhiej Cichanoŭski after his remark caused a stir among some Lithuanian nationalists.

Nausėda called on people to understand the politician who had spent five years in prison “in terrible conditions,” Delfi reported.

“Having spent many years in a dark prison, he may have a slightly different view of the processes that are actually taking place,” the president said.

Speaking of Cichanoŭski’s idea of building autonomous Belarusian “islands” abroad, Nausėda said, “I will never agree to the creation of any ‘islands’ in Lithuania. We had attempts to create autonomies during periods of independence, and nothing came out of it.”

He added, “We are always ready to shelter other people fleeing political persecution, but first and foremost we consider the interests of our own national security. This, in my opinion, is a matter of national security, and we will not allow improvisation here.”

Opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja released a video of her husband expressing regret that his remarks were misunderstood.

“No one suggested creating any autonomous regions or enclaves in Lithuania. Belarusians are immensely grateful to Lithuania for its hospitality, and we respect Lithuania’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Cichanoŭski said.

He explained that by “islands” he referred to Belarusian communities in exile that should keep in touch and help each other.

Cichanoŭski noted that he had previously told Nausėda and Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys that he will be “forever indebted” to Lithuania for saving his children. The former political prisoner had a brief conversation with the president in Vilnius on July 6.

Cichanoŭski also thanked “the Lithuanian people, the Lithuanian government and the parliament for accepting Belarusians and supporting our struggle for freedom.”

“No one dares to encroach on your sovereignty. And I understand why this is so important. Lithuanian history is a history of victories, a history of the struggle for freedom. We Belarusians and Lithuanians have one common enemy—the [Alaksandar] Łukašenka regime and [Vladimir] Putin’s imperialist regime. Let’s support each other in this struggle,” he stated.

In an interview released by the YouTube channel Zhizn-Malina on July 6, Cichanoŭski said, “I want to live in Belarus. I thought about this a lot in prison. If Belarusians don’t want to fight and believe in me, let them believe in someone else, but the main thing is that they fight and this produces results.”

He added, “I will start building islands here, like the Germans had a German autonomous region in Russia, and there was also a Jewish one. After all, a country is its people.”

Earlier, Cichanoŭski, who was held incommunicado for the last five years, made several other controversial statements.