00:01Ukraine has imposed new sanctions against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko
00:06for helping Russia to sustain its war against Ukraine.
00:11Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke to Euronews about her country's influence on Russia's war.
00:19Russia can use Belarus as a platform for pressure and even aggression against Europe.
00:25Under Lukashenko, Belarus has become deeply integrated into Russia's war machine.
00:31Russian troops train there, joint military infrastructure is being modernized.
00:37Russia has deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus and is building infrastructure for systems like the Russian missile.
00:45This creates direct threats not only to Ukraine but also to Poland, the Baltic states and actually wider Europe.
00:52It shortens warning times and increases escalation risks.
00:57Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that without the assistance,
01:01the number of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure and railways in northern Ukraine would likely have been lower.
01:07The Russian society is overwhelmingly against the war.
01:10The army's loyalty in such a scenario is not guaranteed.
01:15And Lukashenko understands that direct participation could destabilize his own regime.
01:20So, yes, Moscow will continue to pressure Minsk.
01:23But Belarus remains one of the weakest link in Russia's regional architecture.
01:28A democratic Belarus would remove major military foothold from Russia's western flank.
01:34This is why the Belarusian dimension must be part of any serious discussion about European security and the end of
01:41this war.
01:43The sanctions package comes after the U.S. eased some of its sanctions on Belarus,
01:47and the country joined the controversial Board of Peace introduced by President Donald Trump.
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