The main opponent of the regime in place in Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, said on Friday that the United States was seeking to increase its technological assistance in the fight against the repression led by President Alexander Lukashenko.
The opponent in exile, who, like Western observers, claims to have won the 2020 presidential election against Mr. Lukashenko, spoke with the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken as well as several senior American officials during a trip to Washington.
“I have been assured of full support for the Belarusian democratic movement,” she told members of the State Department Correspondents’ Association.
“We also talked about providing equipment and technology to Belarusian journalists and activists,” she said.
According to Ms. Tikhanovskaya, they further discussed ways to circumvent disinformation from the regime, including the dissemination of coerced confessions.
Alexander Lukashenko is one of the main supporters of Vladimir Putin’s regime and his invasion of Ukraine.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa claims to have shared with the American officials met proof of this support as well as a list of companies and countries which help the regime to circumvent Western sanctions.
“We discussed how to improve the effectiveness of the sanctions, close the remaining loopholes, freeze Lukashenko’s assets, and block the money given to him by the IMF,” she said.
The opponent praised the resistance of Belarusians against the use of their territory in the war on Ukraine, saying that some 80 railway lines used to transport Russian equipment have been disrupted.
In a statement, the State Department said that Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who led the meeting, which Antony Blinken also attended, “emphasized the United States’ continued support for the aspirations democracy of the Belarusian people”.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, traveled to Washington for the state funeral of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.