WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2021) Belarusian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says she wants dialogue with Russia, but is not sure whether she will get to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Asked if she expected to meet with Putin in the future, Tikhanovskaya told The National Interest magazine on Sunday "I don't know." She did say that she was not looking for enemies and that she wanted "dialogue" with Russia.
According to The National Interest, the general message that the opposition leader was conveying was that Belarus and Russia have always had close ties and that would remain the same in case of a leadership change.
Tikhanovskaya told The National Interest that Belarus needs "a good manager" who can rebuild the country, but she herself is "not ready to participate in new elections," although she could serve instead as "a moral authority."
Tikhanovskaya is currently on a working visit to the United States. During a meeting with the Belarusian diaspora in Washington DC on Sunday, Tikhanovskaya said that she was going to ask for action, particularly sanctions, and not just words of support from the US.
The opposition leader plans to meet with US State Department and White House officials, according to a statement released on Twitter earlier this week.
Belarus has been in a prolonged political crisis since incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko secured his sixth term in office in the August 2020 election. The opposition has not recognized the results, claiming that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was the real winner. The dispute resulted in mass protests across the country, which generally declined by February.
Minsk has opened criminal cases against several opposition leaders and other persons on charges linked to anti-government rallies.
Tikhanovskaya, who is currently based in Lithuania, has emerged as one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition and its chief representative abroad, where she meets with foreign leaders and high-ranking officials to discuss the situation in the country.
