00:00What Russian president wants is not only the actual annexation of territories,
00:05but loyal regimes and full Russification of countries and nations,
00:09says Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
00:12She told Euronews that although the protest movement in her country had to go mostly underground,
00:17it only means people are getting ready to uprise in the right moment.
00:21You know, for sure what we see in Belarus is a creeping occupation.
00:25And it is done with the allowance of Lukashenko, who is Putin's puppet.
00:30Lukashenko is ready to sell our serenity, sell our independence, our country to Russia just to stay in power.
00:38And it hasn't happened like recently. We see the process of Russification.
00:44You know, what Putin is trying to do, it's for Belarus, for example, it's not about physical annexation.
00:51It's about keeping a loyal government in power. This is what they want in Ukraine, actually, as well.
00:58You said that it is hard to also foresee what can happen as long as Lukashenko is in Belarus.
01:05Do you think it's going to be the same if, hypothetically, Putin is no longer in power?
01:13Of course, something can happen in Russia, and hence it will be weaker Lukashenko, and people will uprise again.
01:22You know, it might be a victory for Ukraine. It also will weaken Putin and weaken Lukashenko.
01:31But the changes in Russia can start from changes in Belarus, as well.
01:36There are more possibilities to change the regime in Belarus than in Russia.
01:41You know, all these constant repressions that we are going through for four, at the most, five years already,
01:47haven't made people to forget or to forgive or to deny their pro-European perspectives, pro-democratic.
01:56And so our movement inside the country, it, of course, now went mostly underground.
02:02But, of course, it hasn't disappeared. While Lukashenko is still detaining people every day,
02:08every day 15, 20 people are detained, because he knows that as soon as he stops, there will be massively people on the streets.
02:16He behaves as if still thousands of people are standing in front of his palace.
02:21Visible quietness in the country doesn't mean that people gave up.
02:26It means that people are preparing, and they will be ready when there will be a possibility.
Comments