Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Quotes

Sviatlana Hieorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya is a Belarusian political activist. After standing as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election against the president Alexander Lukashenko, she has led the political opposition to his authoritarian rule through an oppositional government operating from Lithuania.

Tsikhanouskaya became an opposition leader after her husband, Syarhei Tsikhanouski, ran as a presidential candidate in the 2020 presidential election. He was arrested, along with most other opposition leaders, and, as she was unable to file for the presidency on his behalf, Tsikhanouskaya entered herself into the race as a candidate. Lukashenko allowed her candidacy because he believed that a woman could not form legitimate opposition. She ran on a platform of constitutional reform, seeking free and fair elections with term limits on the presidency, and she pledged to step down once this was implemented. After Lukashenko was declared the victor, she was held by Belarusian authorities and then forced into exile in Lithuania. Election observers consider the election fraudulent, and Lithuania has recognized Tsikhanouskaya as the legitimate leader of Belarus.

Since fleeing to Lithuania, Tsikhanouskaya has established an oppositional government. She established the Coordination Council in 2020 and the United Transitional Cabinet in 2022. As a representative of a democratic Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya has met with several world leaders in a diplomatic capacity to negotiate sanctions against Lukashenko's government and to deny him recognition as a legitimate head of state. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she has been an advocate of increased Western involvement while also warning that Russia's actions should not overshadow the dictatorship in Belarus. Tsikhanouskaya was tried in absentia by the Belarusian government in 2023 and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Wikipedia  

✵ 11. September 1982
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya photo
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: 6   quotes 3   likes

Famous Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Quotes

“I know that people have chosen me, that I'm a national leader. I'm a national elected president and I'm here with them.”

"We are not opposition anymore. We are the majority" in TVN24 https://tvn24.pl/tvn24-news-in-english/belarusian-opposition-leader-sviatlanatsikhanouskaya-in-an-interview-for-tvn24-4681692 (2 September 2020)

“Personally, I am against deeper integration with Russia because Belarus is a sovereign nation. We want to be independent. We want to find friends and not enemies among other countries.”

"«Нельзя так со своим народом»Главная соперница Лукашенко — о том, почему у белорусов кончилось терпение и нужна ли им Россия" https://lenta.ru/articles/2020/07/30/tihanovskaya/ (30 July 2020)

“Democracy is about participation in the first place. And with participation comes responsibility for decisions and actions.”

"Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Leader Of The Democracy Movement In Belarus" in Faces of Democracy https://www.faces-of-democracy.org/sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya/ (6 July 2021)

“But I understand I have no right to give up, because people who are in jail didn't give up. They now are suffering for us. Only these people, the families of those repressed in Belarus, have given me the energy to go on.”

"Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya says 'harsh' sanctions needed" in DW https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-opposition-leader-sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya-says-harsh-sanctions-needed/a-57869000 (12 June 2021)

“I think that people have put too much responsibility on me. People are forgetting that a year ago I was just a mother, not at all involved in politics. I have had to study a lot and I’m trying to do what I can, where I am … But the responsibility isn’t just on me, it’s on all Belarusians.”

"Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: ‘Belarusians weren’t ready for this level of cruelty’" in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/09/sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya-belarusians-not-ready-cruelty-lukashenko-belarus (9 August 2021)

“I call on the U.S.A. to be with us. It’s very important when a regime is destroying everything in Belarus, destroying mass media, destroying all the organizations, it’s extremely important to support all those people.”

"Belarusian Opposition Leader Hopes to Spur Action During Washington Visit" in Voice of America https://www.voanews.com/a/europe_belarusian-opposition-leader-hopes-spur-action-during-washington-visit/6208416.html (19 July 2021)

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