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Since the fraudulent Belarusian presidential election in August 2020, Belarusian democratic leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been the face of a free Belarus. Strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s regime imprisoned Tsikhanouskaya’s husband for voicing his own presidential aspirations and subsequently exiled her to Lithuania for spearheading large opposition rallies.

But Tsikhanouskaya remains a tireless advocate for freedom in Belarus and a forceful opponent of Russia’s war on Ukraine. She has also categorically rejected any deployment of Russian nuclear weapons onto Belarusian territory. “Without a free and democratic and independent Belarus, there will be no security in Europe. There will be a constant threat,� she told Agence France-Presse earlier this year.

In January, Lukashenko held yet another sham election that was neither free nor fair. Join Senior Fellow Peter Rough as he sits down with Tsikhanouskaya for a conversation on the state of affairs in Belarus and the geopolitics of Central and Eastern Europe.