According to Belarusian opposition activist Vitali Shkliarov, “Of European leaders, only Lukashenko, Putin and Zelensky have not fulfilled with Tsikhanouskaya, however.”

In this next element of an job 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 even now not in call with the Ukrainian management and why cooperation with her is also crucial for the Ukrainian president’s place of work.

In the to start with element of the interview Mr. Shkliarov explained to Kyiv Submit about prospective buyers for Belarus under Lukashenko and the chance of Belarusian troops attacking Ukraine.

In your short article for Ukrainska Pravda you criticized the Ukrainian management for its unsure posture in regard to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Would you you should reveal why it is vital to establish contacts with her and how Kyiv could cooperate with her?

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her cabinet are Ukraine’s allies. She signifies thousands and thousands of Belarusians beneath occupation and countless numbers of political prisoners who arrive at out for Volodymyr Zelensky. I imagine it’s time to formalize this alliance and present aid for a totally free Belarus, so that our forces confronted by the Russian menace grow tenfold. This is a matter of both equally Ukraine’s nationwide protection and the potential of nine million Belarusians.

The formal recognition of Cost-free Belarus and its president Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya by Ukraine would launch the system of these types of recognition all over Europe and the relaxation of the entire world. It would be a impressive move towards mercy and reconciliation, mutual assist and cultural reintegration of Belarusians within and outside of their nation. We require your Ukrainian support and experience as under no circumstances right before.

By much, of all European leaders, only Lukashenko, Putin and Zelensky haven’t fulfilled with Tsikhanouskaya, however, and haven’t identified her election. I know that to you Ukrainians and us Belarusians, this sort of connection is unacceptable and insulting. So is the simple fact that the Ukrainian foreign ministry has not severed diplomatic relations with Lukashenko.

You know, the slogan on the banners of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army read through “Freedom for Nations – Flexibility for A single.” It’s symbolic. The insurgents who fought for Ukraine’s independence from the two the Nazi and Soviet invaders considered that the freedom of an unique is not possible devoid of the freedom of nations – all nations! So, I feel Mr. Zelensky and his administration could do a large amount for a no cost Belarus to grow to be a associate of the free of charge Ukraine and for Lukashenko’s Belarus to vanish at very last.

How would you explain such a questionable mindset to Tsikhanouskaya on the part of Zelensky and other Ukrainian politicians?

It’s a challenging question. I hope the Zelensky administration even now does not prioritize this situation completely for preposterous reasons. I could name 10 runaround explanations that I’ve read at all ranges of your leadership.

Some explanations surface to be acceptable and many others glance really strange. Choose this just one, for occasion: “Relations with Belarus could worsen.” But they couldn’t be worse following February 24! Some demonstrate that there could be reprisals towards Belarusian opposition activists or terrorist acts in Ukraine. But what could be even worse than missile strikes on peaceful civilians?

Probably, a person doesn’t want to shut the channel of conversation with Putin through Lukashenko, but has it at any time labored? As I heard in the very first weeks of the war, some spare pieces or fuel for the Ukrainian military could be imported from Belarus, but that is extremely hard!

Numerous argue that Tsikhanouskaya has not recognized Crimea as component of Ukraine or that she has not been express more than enough on Russia’s war against Ukraine. In Ukrainska Pravda I gave two dozen illustrations of her clear placement statements.

I see no purpose not to cooperate with Tsikhanouskaya. This sort of conversation with her cabinet is really important for the Belarusians. Belarus is the past post-Soviet country remaining in Russia’s orbit and it is required to split absent from it. That would be the final nail driven into the coffin of Soviet imperialism.

When Russia is seeking to enhance its military at the cost of felony mobilization by recruiting a million thugs, Ukraine need to mobilize 9 million Belarusians in its assist. Alongside one another with Ukraine, Tsikhanouskaya could arrange a legitimate referendum in occupied Belarus and produce a honest, feasible point out – a new Belarus that would come to be Ukraine’s most dependable ally. And the primary weapon we want now is your phrase of assistance for a cost-free Belarus.

For instance, the to start with embassy of Absolutely free Belarus could open on 3 Kotsyubyns’koho Road in Kyiv, in the creating vacated by the Belarusian collaborators who fled Ukraine. It could bury the Lukashenko regime diplomatically and difficulty new Belarusian passports. Then every single Belarusian holder of this passport could vote for a democratic foreseeable future of Belarus and Ukraine and from the Putin and Lukashenko regimes.

That would be our national referendum with simple final results and one more stage in enlisting guidance in the West and East.

Ukraine is actively cooperating with the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment. As much as I comprehend, they are not in touch with Tsikhanouskaya. Are they rivals?

They are not opponents. They are the two battling for the appropriate cause. The Seim [elected leadership] of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment and every person in the regiment are undoubtedly worthy people who are highly regarded by the two Belarusians and Ukrainians. They are real heroes, the pride of my country. If the Ukrainian leadership opted for Tsikhanouskaya as the legit president, it would not undermine the regiment’s authority, wouldn’t avert it from battling for Ukraine’s flexibility and wouldn’t forged any question on the Seim’s political long term. 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 to start with it is essential to defeat Russia and get rid of Lukashenko. Ukraine’s wager on Tsikhanouskaya could assistance accomplish these targets for the reason that it would consolidate the Belarusian opposition and give an impetus to a a lot more energetic wrestle inside of the occupied nation.

Why do not the regiment and Tsikhanouskaya join forces? Why are they performing independently?

They are not acting individually. Their efforts are the similar. They have the identical goals and the identical enemy. The Kalinouski regiment is battling at the front. Tsikhanouskaya is preventing diplomatically.

Tsikhanouskaya has explained quite a few occasions that the Belarusians are not Lukashenko and we have read quite a few occasions from Russia that the Russians are not Putin. But the Russians really don’t do anything at all to cease the war and do not even cover their hatred of Ukrainians. It is pretty much the identical with the Belarusians: They don’t assistance this war but are passive. So Tsikhanouskaya’s utterances do not very audio agreeable to the Ukrainians. Following all, right up until 2020 the Belarusians experienced voted for Lukashenko, so it would be completely wrong to regard them separately from his regime.

To start with, I would not say that the Belarusians are passive. They are not. Some are fighting in Ukraine and other individuals are fighting as partisans, halting trains with Russian tanks around the Belarusian border, or protesting abroad.

The attempts and sacrifices for the duration of the protests in Minsk in 2020 helped to develop a new reality and a position of consolidation of a new Belarusian country. We are unique now. We have our very own, legitimate president in its place of that balloon inflated with Russian gasoline. We have the choice of a unique foreseeable future, a absolutely free European potential. And most importantly, we have us – Belarusians who are prepared to combat with each other. Nowadays we are all new citizens of a new and reasonable Belarus!

Secondly, the Belarusian men and women did not elect Lukashenko in 2020. The winner was Tsikhanouskaya. In 2015, they didn’t elect him possibly. In actuality, none of the presidential elections considering that the initial a person in 1994 had been genuine. All of them had been rigged. Opposition forces have been remaining out of the race. That’s why I say that the Belarusians have in no way elected Lukashenko and are not Lukashenko.

We Belarusians have been silent for much too prolonged and have not known as a spade a spade. But now it is time to conclude this. Lukashenko and Putin are digging a grave for the old, crippled Soviet globe. Their actions are convincing these who question and motivating individuals who wait. They are doing all the things for this to never ever materialize again. They are producing us stronger.

Who must be president following Belarus is freed: Tsikhanouskaya who received the election or her partner who was Lukashenko’s main rival?

Excuse me, but this question is incorrect. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, as the legitimately elected president, retains the mandate that expires in 2025. Right after that, a new reasonable election have to be held. Until eventually then, she will be the respectable president of New Belarus.

Belarus and Ukraine will be free, and it is inescapable. Very long reside Belarus! Glory for Ukraine! Forever!