WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet on Monday with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in a support for the presidable candidate who said he won last year’s election.
Blinken will join a meeting between Tikhanovskaya and the Department of Foreign Affairs Victoria Nuland, known as a strong critic of Moscow, a day before the opposition head of Belarus held a meeting at the White House, according to the US diplomat public schedule.
President Joe Biden has vowed to increase the pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko, the Allied Moscow who has been in power for almost three decades and the security forces have reduced mass protests after the announcement that he secured the sixth term.
Tikhanovskaya, until then the mother lived at home, ran to replace her husband who was detained before the election and claimed to be easy to win.
“The world has been inspired by Belarusians, including Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who continues to demand a significant voice in the future of their country in the face of cruel repression,” A US official said last Sunday when announcing his visit.
The United States, the European Union, England and Canada last month together imposed new sanctions about Belarus after Ryanair passenger flight was based on Minsk with the pretext of security threats, with the authorities to arrest an opposition activist and his girlfriend who was on board.