Belarus’ Beleaguered Opposition

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya almost fell into politics by accident. After her husband Sergei, a prominent pro-democracy activist was arrested just days after announcing he would run for president, the former school teacher became the figurehead of the pro-democracy movement. Many saw her as Belarus' best hope to oust Alexander Lukashenko, the man many dub Europe's last dictator. In 2020 Tsikhanouskaya took on Alexander Lukashenko, but was beaten in a landslide, only taking about 10 percent of the vote. That result, however, was widely disputed. The opposition cried foul, and massive anti-government protests spread across the country. The vast majority of the international community also rejected the result. Tsikhanouskaya became a household name, and even a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then the opposition leader has met with foreign governments, lobbying for tougher sanctions against the Belarusian regime. But with the conflict in Ukraine pushing Minsk and Moscow ever closer together, has the Union State morphed into ‘One Russia’? And is there any hope for political dissidents to rise again? Pavel Berstou National Anti-Crisis Management Belarus Foreign Policy Adviser Hanna Liubakova Exiled Belarusian Journalist Elisabeth Braw Senior Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute