Belarusian Politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Visited VMU
On May 6, 2024, Belarusian politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Vytautas Magnus University. During the meeting with the academic community, S. Tsikhanouskaya delivered a speech on Regional Stability: The Role of Democratic Belarus in Ensuring Security in Eastern Europe. The aim of the lecture was to evaluate the role of Belarus in the context of regional stability and security in Eastern Europe, especially considering the country’s political situation and democratization opportunities.
According to Aistė Žemaitytė, vice-dean of the VMU’s Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, who was organizing the visit, this is a unique opportunity to discuss the role of Belarus in regional stability and possible future scenarios with the Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during the lecture.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a Belarusian national leader, the head of the United Transitional Government and the president-elect of Belarus, who according to independent observers won the 2020 elections. August 9 presidential election against the long-time dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, Tsikhanouskaya reformatted the movement’s leadership by creating and chairing the United Transition Cabinet, the movement’s decision-making centre. Belarusian anti-war activists led by Tsikhanouskaya conducted underground resistance in Belarus by sabotaging the railway transportation of Russian troops as well as volunteering for Belarusian-staffed units fighting for Ukraine.
As the leader of the Belarusian democratic movement, she has visited 28 countries, gathering support and advocating for the release of more than 1500 political prisoners and a peaceful transition of power through free and fair elections. In meetings with President J. Biden, Chancellor A. Merkel, President E. Macron, President U. von der Leyen, President Charles Michel, Prime Minister Trudeau and other world leaders, Tsikhanouskaya emphasised the need for a braver response to the actions of the Belarusian dictatorship.
2020-2023 Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya became a symbol of the peaceful struggle for democracy and strong female leadership. In addition to dozens of awards, she is a recipient of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in 2022. Laureate of the International Four Freedoms Award and the Charlemagne Prize. in 2021 and 2022 She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and members of the Norwegian Parliament, respectively. A. Tsikhanouskaya was recognized as one of Bloomberg’s 50 most powerful people, Financial Times’ 12 most powerful women and Politico’s 28 most powerful Europeans.
