{"id":205267,"date":"2025-06-22T14:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T14:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/205267\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T14:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T14:04:11","slug":"trump-could-free-all-belaruss-political-prisoners-with-a-single-word-released-oppositionist-tsikhanouski-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/205267\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump could free all Belarus’s political prisoners ‘with a single word,’ released oppositionist Tsikhanouski says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a Belarusian oppositionist recently released from prison, thanked the U.S. on June 22 for brokering his release and appealed to President Donald Trump to help free other political prisoners in Belarus.<\/p>\n

“President Trump now has the power and opportunity to free all political prisoners in Belarus<\/a> with a single word. And I ask him to do so, to say that word,” Tsikhanouski said in Vilnius during his first press conference after the release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger who planned to challenge Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko<\/a> in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested shortly before the vote and later sentenced to 18 years in prison<\/a> on politically motivated charges.<\/p>\n

The opposition leader and at least 13 other detainees were released from Belarusian prisons on June 21 after Lukashenko met U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in Minsk.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the press conference alongside his wife and opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Tsikhanouski affirmed that both of them “will continue to support Ukraine and call all of the perpetrators accountable.”<\/p>\n

Tsikhanouski confirmed that he used to do business both in Ukraine<\/a> and in Russia but refuted allegations of pro-Russian<\/a> sympathies, affirming his support for Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n

“I believe Crimea is Ukrainian. Zelensky has the hardest fate and a heavy load that no other president has. Zelensky is my hero,” Tsikhanouski said.<\/p>\n

He also said that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya<\/a> remains the leader of the Belarusian opposition, and he will not challenge that. <\/p>\n

Tsikhanouskaya stepped in as the opposition candidate in 2020 after her husband’s arrest, but was forced into exile after Lukashenko declared victory in what was broadly seen as massive election fraud.<\/p>\n

“Do you think that anybody who serves in prison automatically becomes a leader? We have 1,200 such leaders,” Tsikhanouski added, referring to the number of political prisoners who remain in prison under Lukashenko’s regime.<\/p>\n

“Belarus can’t be free until the Putin regime collapses. If it wasn’t for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, we would not be sitting here; it would have been over (after the Belarus’ popular protests against Lukashenko) in 2020-2021,” Tsikhanouski said.<\/p>\n

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is a close ally of Putin<\/a> and has allowed Russia<\/a> to use Belarusian territory for military operations against Ukraine. <\/p>\n

The Belarusian dictator has maintained a tight grip over his country by electoral fraud, surveillance, and brutal crackdown on free press, civil society, and political opposition, prompting Western countries to impose sanctions on Belarus.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Russia \u2018afraid to admit\u2019 scale of losses, trying to hide by dumping soldiers\u2019 bodies on Ukraine, Zelensky says<\/p>\n

Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that at least 20 of the bodies Russia returned as Ukrainian were actually Russian soldiers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

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