![\"Sviatlana](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/large.jpeg\")
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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya holds a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2 October 2025. Photo: EPA\/THOMAS TRAASDAHL<\/p>\n
The Vilnius office of exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been forced to temporarily suspend its operations due to a last-minute decision by the Lithuanian authorities to lower the level of her security, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT<\/a> reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cOn 1 October, we were informed about the planned changes,\u201d Tsikhanouskaya adviser Dzianis Kuchynski told LRT, adding that as the notice period had been so short, \u201cwe didn\u2019t have time to adapt the office\u2019s operations to these changes. As a result, we have had to temporarily suspend its activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced out of Belarus in August 2020, is recognised<\/a> by many to have beaten dictator Alexander Lukashenko in that year\u2019s presidential election. Following her exile, she established the United Transitional Cabinet in Vilnius and has operated<\/a> from the Lithuanian capital ever since.<\/p>\n Kuchynski noted that Lithuania\u2019s Foreign Ministry still considered Tsikhanouskaya the de facto elected leader of Belarus, while pointing out that members of the Belarusian opposition in exile faced an ongoing campaign of intimidation from Minsk.<\/p>\n \u201cLukashenko\u2019s regime continues its campaign of intimidation and repression even outside Belarus by attacking premises belonging to Belarusians, including shops, cultural centres and churches in Vilnius, launching disinformation campaigns inspired by the KGB, engaging in constant cyberattacks and phone hacking, and by making regular death threats against members of the democratic movement,\u201d Kuchynski said.<\/p>\n The decision<\/a> by the Lithuanian authorities to downgrade Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s protection, transferring responsibility for her safety from the intelligence services to the police, was publicly announced on Tuesday. <\/p>\n Former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called<\/a> the move \u201ca betrayal,\u201d saying it \u201ceffectively forces Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s family and her office to leave Lithuania\u201d.<\/p>\n