Amna Nawaz:
The Eastern European nation of Belarus has been plunged into the center of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, both by its borders and by its Putin-linked President Alexander Lukashenko, who stands accused of aiding Russian attacks on Ukraine.
As the country of nine million grapples with both the fallout from the war in Ukraine and its dictatorial leader, our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, spoke to the Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, about the state of the nation and Belarusians hope for democracy.
Liz Landers:
In Belarus, a Russian-linked strongman is pushing his nation to the precipice of conflict, having deployed over 1,000 soldiers, special operations forces, and border guards to the nation’s southeast border with Ukraine as Ukraine’s war with Russia rages on through its fifth year right next door.
At a government meeting this week, President Lukashenko pushed for more militarization.
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus (through translator): Pass on my order, everyone who does not know how to work, to join the army and to the southern border, to the forest. This is where our guys, special operations forces, are deployed along the Ukrainian border by my order. That’s where they will go, to the army, as ordinary soldiers.
Liz Landers:
Just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Belarus of waging war.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):
They have been doing this since the first days of this war. When the full-scale war started, rockets attacked us, killed children and adults. And you know that in large numbers.
Missiles flew from Belarus on its territory along two regions bordering Ukraine. There is equipment that directs fire on the Ukrainian population. There are civilians there.
Liz Landers:
Accusations that Lukashenko denied.
Alexander Lukashenko (through translator):
We do not need to get involved in a war. So there is no need to push us towards it.
Liz Landers:
But despite reassurances, the country’s leading opposition figure says it’s a farce.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian Opposition Leader:
The Belarusian regime is already involved in this war, but not because Belarusians chose it, but because Lukashenko chose to serve Putin. He allowed Russian forces to invade Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
He provides military infrastructure, logistics, fuel factories, and political cover.
Liz Landers:
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya ran for president in 2020 after her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, was arrested on the eve of his own campaign. She took up his fight.
Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory with over 80 percent of votes. Tsikhanouskaya and the international community called it rigged.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:
Lukashenko is not the president. In 2020, he lost elections. It’s a person who seized his power, but he trying to serve Russia, because Russia is the source of his political survival.
Liz Landers:
The election sparked mass protests. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to protest his rule and were met with violence. Security forces arrested over 37,000 protesters, crushing the demonstrations.
Tsikhanouskaya says that state brutality continues today.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:
The level of repressions in Belarus for six years already reminds Stalin’s time repression, because, every day, for this period of time, people are detained, like daily. We still have at least 800 political prisoners behind bars and every day new people detained.
Liz Landers:
Alexander Lukashenko first rose to power this week 31 years ago, the Soviet apparatchik winning the first free election in Belarus since independence. He has remained in power since, Europe’s longest-serving leader derided as the continent’s last dictator.
How dependent is Lukashenko on Putin for retaining his power in Belarus? And, if Putin goes, does Lukashenko last?
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:
Lukashenko understands, if Putin is weakened, his power is — end, because, since 2020, Lukashenko has traded Belarus sovereignty for Kremlin support, allowing Russia to invade all the spheres of Belarusian life, like media, military, economy, just to survive.
Lukashenko is a lost case. He will serve to Russia’s interest, to Putin because his own power depends on this support.
Liz Landers:
And since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, that dependence has only grown. By 2025, Belarus now relies on Russia for over half of its exports and imports, primarily Russian oil and gas at a subsidized price.
Tsikhanouskaya says that Belarus is getting dragged into the war in Ukraine because Lukashenko chose to serve Putin.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:
Belarusians overwhelmingly reject direct participation in the war. They don’t see Ukrainians as enemies. And we understand that the fates of Ukraine and fates of Belarus are interlinked. We face the same enemy, imperialistic ambitions of Russia. And both of our countries want to — want freedom, independence and want European track of development.
Liz Landers:
And to achieve that, she says, they need help from the West.
What message do you have for President Trump about Belarus’ future and goals for democracy?
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:
We ask America to support Ukraine, because supporting Ukraine and Belarus is not charity. It’s one of the smartest investments America can make in its own security, because, if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he will not stop there. But if it is stopped in Ukraine and Belarus becomes free, America will have a safer Europe and a stronger NATO and much weaker Kremlin.
I really remain optimistic.
Liz Landers:
Two nations tied by European dreams and Russian enstranglement, one fiercely fighting to keep its democracy, and one that dreams it will finally see it one day, despite a brutal crackdown.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Liz Landers.
