Wanted Tikhanovskaya wants Putin to mediate

Of: TT

Published: October 07, 2020 at 4:32 p.m.
Updated: October 07, 2020 at 5:55 p.m.

The opposition leader and Belarusian presidential candidate, Svetlana Tichanovskaya, is listed in Russia as wanted for crimes. She wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate the conflict in Belarus, but the Kremlin has no plans for political deliberations with her.

It is not clear what the allegations are about, but Tichanovskaya is in a database that the Russian Interior Ministry keeps searched, Russian media report. It is also unclear when her name was entered into the registry.

A source with knowledge of the case also told the Russian news agency Interfax that a preliminary investigation into the crime against Tikhanovskaya has not been launched. The inclusion of her name on the list is more of a bureaucratic measure according to an agreement between Belarus and Russia, the source claims.

Fled to lithuania

Tikhanovskaya fled to neighboring Lithuania after the Belarusian presidential elections on August 9, officially won by President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994. During his exile, he met with foreign politicians, including French President Emmanuel Macron and the Chancellor. Angela Merkel, and continued to demand that Lukashenko leave.

The Kremlin has supported the president in the ongoing fight, where large crowds gather every Sunday to protest election fraud and demand his resignation.

“Be a mediator”

Tichanovskaya visited the German Bundestag in Berlin on Wednesday. There she clarified that the opposition does not want Putin to solve the problems in Belarus, but that these are internal.

“We want to invite you to be a mediator,” he said.

But in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear that talks between Putin and Tikhanovskaya were not expected.

– Mrs Tichanovskaya is not in Belarus. It can hardly be said that she is involved in any way in life in Belarus, says Peskov.

– Holds meetings with various heads of state and government who consider the President of Belarus illegitimate, he continues.

Diplomatically isolated

According to media reports, Peskov said nothing about the criminal suspicions against Tikhanovskaya.

At the same time, Belarus is diplomatically isolated. Since Poland and Lithuania called their ambassadors in the country on Tuesday, Estonia and Latvia also did the same the next day. This is after Belarus withdrew its ambassadors from Poland and Lithuania on Friday.

The Baltic states were the first to impose sanctions on Lukashenko and others in the post-election regime.

Published: October 07, 2020 at 4:32 p.m.