Don't relax pressure on Lukashenko, freed Belarus dissident tells the West

By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS (Reuters) -The West needs to keep up pressure on Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to try to force democratic change, newly released dissident Siarhei Tsikhanouski told Reuters.

Tsikhanouski, who walked free last month after more than five years in prison, said now was not the time to contemplate easing sanctions on Lukashenko, a Russian ally who has ruled the former Soviet state for 31 years.

Over the past year, Lukashenko has released more than 300 opposition figures and activists from jail. Another 16, including some convicted of "extremism," were pardoned on Wednesday.

Tsikhanouski, who had attempted to run in the 2020 presidential election, is, by far, the most prominent opponent that Lukashenko has freed to date.

The move raises questions about what he wants in return, and how the West should respond.

"He should be told: you will face even bigger pressure if you don’t stop repressions... The release of prisoners is not enough: he needs to stop further jailings, and sanctions should only be relieved if he agrees to undertake some political reforms," Tsikhanouski, 46, said in an interview in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

"The West has a chance to achieve a democratic country" in Belarus, he added.

Lukashenko says there are no political prisoners in Belarus and that those behind bars are law-breakers who chose their own fate. His spokeswoman has said he freed Tsikhanouski "strictly on humanitarian grounds with the aim of family reunification".

'NEED TO PUNCH THROUGH'

Belarus, a country of just 9 million people, is of strategic importance because it borders Russia, Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Lukashenko, a close Russian ally, allowed President Vladimir Putin to attack Ukraine from Belarus during the 2022 Russian invasion, and later agreed to host Russian nuclear warheads.

The trigger for Tsikhanouski's release was a trip to Belarus by U.S. presidential envoy Keith Kellogg, the most senior U.S. official to visit the country in more than five years.

Freed together with 13 others, he was driven across the border into Lithuania for an emotional reunion with his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled leader of the Belarus opposition.

"By releasing me, (Lukashenko) indicates he is ready to release people whom he considers his personal enemies," said Tsikhanouski.

"I was jailed by him to shut me up. Now he released a strong and armed person – because my word is my weapon ... I plan to use it, so that the regime collapses, Belarus becomes democratic and joins the European family."

A firebrand who captured the imagination of many in 2020 with his social media videos mocking the leadership, Tsikhanouski says his goal was to encourage alternative points of view inside Belarus, where government opponents risk jail.

Human rights activists say around 1,150 critics of the government remain behind bars.

Many Belarusians have "lost belief and enthusiasm," Tsikhanouski said. "We need to punch through... The war needs to be fought inside the heads of the people."

Looking gaunt, he told Reuters his weight has fallen to just 77 kilograms (170 pounds) from 135 kg when he entered prison.

At a press conference the day after his release, he broke down in sobs as he recounted how his 9-year-old daughter had not recognised him on his return.

"I start feeling tired by lunch time. I need a nap," he said when asked how he was recuperating. "But the love of my close ones, my wife, the children, it helps my psychological health. I am recovering fast."

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Bernadette Baum)