“She does not control the protest”
Svetlana Tichanovska met with US President Joe Biden. Their meeting in a very warm atmosphere lasted 15 minutes. As a result of the meeting, the American leader treated the Belarusian opposition with biscuits. Less than a year after the Tikhonskaya presidential election, Biden became the 31 state leaders she held with.
Photo: en.wikipedia.org
The former presidential candidate was invited to Washington by the US State Department. It is noteworthy that Biden was able to find time for Tichanovska and postponed the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until the end of August. Earlier, the leader of the Lukashenko regime's opponents is known to have met with US senators and congressmen, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, his deputy Victoria Nuland, and US State Department adviser Derek Scholl.
Tikhanovskaya called on Americans to impose new sanctions on the Lukashenko regime, discussing with them the story of the Ryanair plane, political repression in Belarus, and so on. At the same time, he wants Washington to act as a mediator in the dialogue between the opposition and the Belarusian authorities.
However, many fear what Tikhonskaya is about a year after the presidential election in Belarus. It holds dozens of meetings with world leaders, but protests in the republic itself have diminished.
“First, Tikhanskaya is a symbol of resistance to the Lukashenko regime and must continue to work to impose new sanctions on his team.” Tikhonskaya is the blade of a spear aimed at Lukashenko, – said Yevgeny Medvedev, the press secretary of the Belarusian Solidarity Fund for Sport. – Tichanovská's meeting with Biden is an unconditional victory for the entire protest movement.
During the year, there was an amazing division in all areas of activity in the Belarusian protest. Various foundations and initiatives do not coordinate their actions with Tichanovská in any way, but they all work for one thing. We regularly alert Tikhanovska to certain projects that seem important to us, and she then brings our initiatives to foreign organizations and individual politicians. “
However, according to Medvedev, Tikhanskaya has no direct contact with opponents of Lukashenko's power, who remained inside Belarus and not outside it. At best, we can say that the leader of the Belarusian protest can maintain contact with them after 2-3 handshakes. Plus, these people aren't trying to go it alone. This is due to the fact that they suddenly did not receive help from Tikhonskaya.
Former Belarusian presidential candidate and leader of the Tell the Truth movement Andrei Dmitriev told MK that as such a common structure that unites all Lukashenko's opponents, there is no today: “In 2020, the opposition tried to create a Coordinating Council accused of almost trying to seize power. The current system is such that everyone does for themselves what they consider important and possible. At the same time, the people are united by the desire to return the republic to the democratic channel. Belarusian political scientist Dmitry Bolkunets believes that Tikhanov's protest is not controlled today, because there are no protests in Belarus itself. As for the financial component of the opposition, it also has nothing to do with money: “Tikhonskaya does not distribute money, does not help receive grants, etc. Its task is the international placement of the Belarusian protest. He also lobbies for sanctions. The plitologist noted that protesters had many questions about how the opposition financed certain projects. “First of all, the opposition organizations themselves are not transparent enough.” Second, European funds that allocate money to fight Lukashenko do not say where and what exactly the funds will be spent, says Bolkunets. – This is an important question for people who have been out of work as a result of this struggle, have gone through prison and other difficulties. However, it often happens that in the European Union they talk about allocating aid, but they do not see or feel it in the field. “