{"id":180387,"date":"2026-03-21T11:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:33:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:33:31","slug":"opposition-leader-cautions-against-deals-with-lukasenka","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition leader cautions against deals with \u0141uka\u0161enka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"block-image block-image-normal\">\n\n  <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1365\" height=\"1164\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE-277x236.jpg 277w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE-575x490.jpg 575w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE-768x655.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/>\n  <figcaption>\n  \n       <div class=\"block-image__author\">\n                <span>(College of Europe)<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n     <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 21,<em> Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> The release of jailed dissidents by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka should not be seen as a humanitarian gesture, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja stressed in her address at the College of Europe in Belgium&#8217;s Bruges on March 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;People are released and then deported illegally,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The dictator gets rid of his opponents. It is not mercy. It is forced exile.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Western politicians sometimes forget that \u201cdictators are professional scammers,\u201d Cichano\u016dskaja added, noting that making deals with them will ultimately leave their counterparts with nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two days ago, \u0141uka\u0161enka freed 250 jailed regime critics following the talks with Joahn Coale, US special envoy for Belarus. Those freed on March 19 include human rights defenders Marfa Rabkova, Nasta \u0141ojka and Valancin Stefanovi\u010d; journalist Kaciaryna Bachva\u0142ava (Andrejeva) and blogger Eduard Pal\u010dys, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the talks, \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s press office reported that the US lifted sanctions on two Belarusian banks, Bie\u0142invest and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, and the Ministry of Finance of Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday, Minsk reportedly sent to Washington its proposals for a \u201cgrand bargain.\u201d Originally, \u0141uka\u0161enka mentioned a possibility of \u201cgrand bargain\u201d in October 2025, but did not specify his exact demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/koul-tertel-usa-belta-19-03-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/koul-tertel-usa-belta-19-03-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/koul-tertel-usa-belta-19-03-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/koul-tertel-usa-belta-19-03-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/koul-tertel-usa-belta-19-03-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/koul-tertel-usa-belta-19-03.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Politics<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Politics<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Washington to lift 80 percent of sanctions if Minsk frees all dissidents \u2013 Coale<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">March 20, Pozirk. If Minsk releases all designated political prisoners by the end of 2026, the United States will lift 80 percent of its sanctions against Belarus, John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus, told Reuters. These 80 percent of &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/180305\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read the article<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 21, Pozirk. The release of jailed dissidents by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka should not be seen as a humanitarian gesture, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja stressed in her address at the College of Europe in Belgium&#8217;s Bruges on March 19. &#8220;People are released and then deported illegally,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The dictator gets rid of his opponents. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":180358,"template":"","rubric":[14],"class_list":["post-180387","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opposition leader cautions against deals with \u0141uka\u0161enka | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March 21, Pozirk. The release of jailed dissidents by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka should not be seen as a humanitarian gesture, Belarusian opposition leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opposition leader cautions against deals with \u0141uka\u0161enka | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 21, Pozirk. 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The release of jailed dissidents by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka should not be seen as a humanitarian gesture, Belarusian opposition leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/college-brugge-tsikhanovskaya-2-20260319-COLLEGE.jpg","width":1365,"height":1164},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180387\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Opposition leader cautions against deals with \u0141uka\u0161enka"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","name":"Pozirk","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization","name":"Pozirk","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Pozirk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/180387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=180387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}