By Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, May 25 (Reuters) – Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Kyiv on Monday following weeks of mounting warnings from Ukrainian officials about Russian plans to draw Minsk more deeply into the war against Ukraine.
Tsikhanouskaya arrived a day after one of the war’s biggest strikes on the Ukrainian capital killed four people and damaged historical sites, and amid Russian threats to launch further heavy attacks on Kyiv.
Tsikhanouskaya, an opponent of Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow, said only a democratic Belarus could become a source of stability and security in the region.
“Lukashenko’s rhetoric is shifting: we are preparing for war, of course, we want peace, but we are gearing up for war. And that, of course, is very alarming for people,” she told reporters after meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, on what she said was her first “working visit” to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently warned of Belarus becoming more involved in Russia’s full-scale war, now well into its fifth year. He said Ukraine would beef up its northern defences in preparation for any possible new Russian offensive, including from Belarusian territory.
Last week Lukashenko dismissed any notion that Minsk would be dragged into the war, but said that, together with Russia, it would defend itself in the event of aggression.
STAUNCH MOSCOW ALLY
Minsk has remained Moscow’s staunchest supporter during the war. Russian drones have crossed Belarus while attacking Ukraine, and Minsk said it has deployed the Russian Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile system. The two countries also held nuclear drills last week.
Asked about a phone call that French President Emmanuel Macron held on Sunday with Lukashenko, Tsikhanouskaya described it as “a warning” from Europe.
“If you take any steps to escalate the situation… there will be a response from our side,” Tsikhanouskaya said, paraphrasing what she believed to be Europe’s message to the veteran Belarusian leader.
Lukashenko has been seeking an easing of Western sanctions imposed on his country over his violent crackdown on protesters following a disputed election in 2020 that Tsikhanouskaya and her supporters say she won. The sanctions were further tightened over his support for Russia’s war.
Sybiha reiterated that Ukraine would respond in kind in the event of any Belarusian provocations.
He also dismissed comments by Lukashenko that he was ready to meet Zelenskiy if the Ukrainian leader wanted to “talk about something”, saying Kyiv already “had people to meet with”.
(Reporting by Yuliia DysaEditing by Gareth Jones)
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