March 19, Pozirk. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has described her office in Warsaw as a democratic hub that would unite Belarusian initiatives and activists.
The politician, who moved to Poland with part of her team earlier this year after Lithuania decided to downgrade her security, noted increased opportunities for cooperating with Belarusian initiatives in the country.
“We don’t call it a move, it’s more of an expansion,” she has told Pozirk. “The office in Vilnius remains open and accredited with all our work continuing as usual. Any change is, of course, stressful, but it also brings opportunities. I’m very glad that I now have more time, at least at this stage, to stay in touch with Belarusian organizations.”
Cichanoŭskaja added that she looks forward to her visit to Kyiv, where she plans to expand contacts between Belarusian pro-democracy forces and Ukraine at the political level.
“We need an inter-ministerial group that will deal daily with both general political issues and the problems of Belarusians in Ukraine,” she said. “There is still a lot of work to be done with Ukrainian society to convey the message that we are not Russia, that we support Ukraine and that many Belarusians are serving absurdly long prison sentences precisely for supporting Ukraine.”
“Looking at the bigger picture, I hope that by 2027 it will be possible to freely say ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ and ‘Long live Belarus!’ in Belarus,” Cichanoŭskaja said. “I also hope that no bombs will fall on Ukraine.”
