According to Belarusian opposition activist Vitali Shkliarov, “Of European leaders, only Lukashenko, Putin and Zelensky haven’t met with Tsikhanouskaya, but.”

In this next element of an interview with Vitali Shkliarov, a Belarusian opposition activist and political engineer, Kyiv Post questioned why Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the winner in the 2020 presidential election in Belarus, is nonetheless not in make contact with with the Ukrainian management and why cooperation with her is also significant for the Ukrainian president’s business office.

In the 1st element of the job interview Mr. Shkliarov told Kyiv Publish about prospective clients for Belarus under Lukashenko and the probability of Belarusian troops attacking Ukraine.

In your posting for Ukrainska Pravda you criticized the Ukrainian leadership for its unsure place in regard to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Would you make sure you explain why it is necessary to set up contacts with her and how Kyiv could cooperate with her?

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her cabinet are Ukraine’s allies. She signifies millions of Belarusians underneath occupation and thousands of political prisoners who access out for Volodymyr Zelensky. I think it is time to formalize this alliance and give support for a totally free Belarus, so that our forces confronted by the Russian menace grow tenfold. This is a make a difference of each Ukraine’s national stability and the foreseeable future of 9 million Belarusians.

The official recognition of No cost Belarus and its president Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya by Ukraine would start the mechanism of this kind of recognition in the course of Europe and the relaxation of the planet. It would be a impressive go toward mercy and reconciliation, mutual assistance and cultural reintegration of Belarusians within and beyond their country. We need to have your Ukrainian aid and experience as hardly ever before.

By significantly, of all European leaders, only Lukashenko, Putin and Zelensky have not met with Tsikhanouskaya, nonetheless, and haven’t acknowledged her election. I know that to you Ukrainians and us Belarusians, this form of partnership is unacceptable and insulting. So is the fact that the Ukrainian international ministry has not severed diplomatic relations with Lukashenko.

You know, the slogan on the banners of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army browse “Independence for Nations – Liberty for A person.” It is symbolic. The insurgents who fought for Ukraine’s independence against each the Nazi and Soviet invaders believed that the freedom of an unique is unattainable without having the freedom of nations – all nations! So, I consider Mr. Zelensky and his administration could do a lot for a cost-free Belarus to grow to be a lover of the totally free Ukraine and for Lukashenko’s Belarus to vanish at past.

How would you make clear this sort of a questionable mind-set to Tsikhanouskaya on the aspect of Zelensky and other Ukrainian politicians?

It’s a difficult dilemma. I hope the Zelensky administration nonetheless does not prioritize this difficulty exclusively for preposterous good reasons. I could name 10 runaround explanations that I’ve listened to at all ranges of your leadership.

Some explanations surface to be acceptable and other people appear genuinely strange. Acquire this a single, for occasion: “Relations with Belarus could worsen.” But they couldn’t be even worse after February 24! Some explain that there could be reprisals versus Belarusian opposition activists or terrorist acts in Ukraine. But what could be even worse than missile strikes on tranquil civilians?

Maybe, anyone doesn’t want to close the channel of conversation with Putin via Lukashenko, but has it ever labored? As I heard in the very first weeks of the war, some spare pieces or gasoline for the Ukrainian military could be imported from Belarus, but that’s impossible!

Numerous argue that Tsikhanouskaya has not regarded Crimea as portion of Ukraine or that she has not been specific more than enough on Russia’s war towards Ukraine. In Ukrainska Pravda I gave two dozen examples of her distinct posture statements.

I see no motive not to cooperate with Tsikhanouskaya. These interaction with her cupboard is pretty vital for the Belarusians. Belarus is the last publish-Soviet nation remaining in Russia’s orbit and it is necessary to split absent from it. That would be the last nail pushed into the coffin of Soviet imperialism.

Even though Russia is trying to reinforce its army at the expenditure of prison mobilization by recruiting a million thugs, Ukraine really should mobilize nine million Belarusians in its support. Jointly with Ukraine, Tsikhanouskaya could organize a legitimate referendum in occupied Belarus and develop a fair, viable point out – a new Belarus that would turn out to be Ukraine’s most trusted ally. And the main weapon we need to have now is your term of assist for a free Belarus.

For illustration, the 1st embassy of Free of charge Belarus could open on 3 Kotsyubyns’koho Avenue in Kyiv, in the creating vacated by the Belarusian collaborators who fled Ukraine. It could bury the Lukashenko routine diplomatically and problem new Belarusian passports. Then each and every Belarusian holder of this passport could vote for a democratic long term of Belarus and Ukraine and against the Putin and Lukashenko regimes.

That would be our countrywide referendum with simple benefits and yet another step in enlisting aid in the West and East.

Ukraine is actively cooperating with the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment. As far as I understand, they are not in contact with Tsikhanouskaya. Are they opponents?

They are not rivals. They are equally fighting for the right result in. The Seim [elected leadership] of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment and every person in the regiment are surely deserving folks who are revered by both Belarusians and Ukrainians. They are true heroes, the pleasure of my place. If the Ukrainian management opted for Tsikhanouskaya as the reputable president, it would not undermine the regiment’s authority, wouldn’t stop it from preventing for Ukraine’s freedom and wouldn’t cast any doubt on the Seim’s political upcoming. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is not a competitor and not a dictator. Also, she built her election campaign on a pledge to hold, after elected, a new presidential election.

But 1st it is important to defeat Russia and get rid of Lukashenko. Ukraine’s guess on Tsikhanouskaya could aid obtain these targets mainly because it would consolidate the Belarusian opposition and give an impetus to a additional active wrestle within the occupied nation.

Why really don’t the regiment and Tsikhanouskaya be a part of forces? Why are they performing individually?

They are not performing separately. Their efforts are the identical. They have the similar aims and the similar enemy. The Kalinouski regiment is preventing at the entrance. Tsikhanouskaya is battling diplomatically.

Tsikhanouskaya has reported lots of periods that the Belarusians are not Lukashenko and we have listened to quite a few instances from Russia that the Russians are not Putin. But the Russians really do not do anything at all to cease the war and really don’t even conceal their hatred of Ukrainians. It is basically the identical with the Belarusians: They don’t support this war but are passive. So Tsikhanouskaya’s utterances do not rather audio agreeable to the Ukrainians. Soon after all, until finally 2020 the Belarusians had voted for Lukashenko, so it would be incorrect to regard them independently from his routine.

To begin with, I wouldn’t say that the Belarusians are passive. They are not. Some are fighting in Ukraine and others are battling as partisans, halting trains with Russian tanks around the Belarusian border, or protesting overseas.

The efforts and sacrifices for the duration of the protests in Minsk in 2020 helped to create a new actuality and a position of consolidation of a new Belarusian nation. We are various now. We have our very own, real president as an alternative of that balloon inflated with Russian fuel. We have the option of a diverse future, a free of charge European foreseeable future. And most importantly, we have us – Belarusians who are ready to fight collectively. Nowadays we are all new citizens of a new and honest Belarus!

Secondly, the Belarusian persons did not elect Lukashenko in 2020. The winner was Tsikhanouskaya. In 2015, they didn’t elect him either. In fact, none of the presidential elections considering that the to start with 1 in 1994 ended up respectable. All of them had been rigged. Opposition forces were being remaining out of the race. Which is why I say that the Belarusians have never elected Lukashenko and are not Lukashenko.

We Belarusians have been silent for as well prolonged and haven’t known as a spade a spade. But now it’s time to conclude this. Lukashenko and Putin are digging a grave for the previous, crippled Soviet planet. Their steps are convincing those people who doubt and motivating those people who hesitate. They are performing all the things for this to never materialize once again. They are making us much better.

Who must be president right after Belarus is freed: Tsikhanouskaya who received the election or her partner who was Lukashenko’s most important rival?

Excuse me, but this concern is incorrect. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, as the legitimately elected president, retains the mandate that expires in 2025. Just after that, a new honest election must be held. Right up until then, she will be the respectable president of New Belarus.

Belarus and Ukraine will be absolutely free, and it is unavoidable. Lengthy stay Belarus! Glory for Ukraine! Forever!