WARSAW (HRNW) – Exiled opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko met in Poland on Sunday, on the eve of the third anniversary of their unsuccessful post-election protests, to display unity and plan strategy including the issuance of “New Belarus” passports.
Set up in August 2022 by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the self-declared government-in-exile has opened more than 20 alternative embassies and information centres abroad.
Tsikhanouskaya, 40, a former English teacher who fled after running against Lukashenko in a 2020 vote critics called rigged, said the opposition would seek international recognition for the alternative passports.
Speaking at a hotel in Warsaw to several hundred activists, including independent media and civic groups, Tsikhanouskaya urged opposition forces abroad to unite and support the creation of a “New Belarus” movement.
“Unfortunately, the past three years have taught us to always prepare for the worst. We are used to the fact that the strongest desire is not enough to change a rotten system,” she said at the opposition’s second annual gathering after last year’s meeting in Lithuania.