Andrei Sharendo: Tsikhanouskaia's Office Plays Double Game
- 15.01.2024, 15:58
She also confuses European politicians.
On Saturday, January 13, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola visited Vilnius and met with a delegation of relatives of Belarusian political prisoners, as well as former prisoners of conscience.
Andrei Sharenda, the husband of the Brest activist of the European Belarus Civil Campaign Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, attended the meeting and drew attention to the fact that the struggle is still ongoing in Belarus. He told Charter97.org about this.
“Some of those who are fighting against the Lukashenka regime are our political prisoners who continue to resist while in isolation. Thus, they show the whole world that the Belarusians are not reconciled, that the struggle continues," Andrei Sharenda said .
On the same day, it became known that the dictatorial regime of Lukashenka had killed another Belarusian. Political prisoner Vadzim Khrasko was killed in prison.
“The European Union must hold the dictator accountable for this act of terror. It is difficult to imagine what else needs to happen for European politicians to act more decisively. The only correct answer on their part would be the introduction of real, rather than decorative, sanctions against the dictator. The introduction of a full embargo on the transit of goods through Belarus will put enormous pressure on the Lukashenka regime. At the meeting, I emphasized that only sanctions and only pressure can release Palina and other political prisoners," Andrei Sharenda said.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaia and her team were also present at the meeting. Andrei Sharenda told us that he and other relatives of political prisoners did not understand Tsikhanouskaia's position:
“On the one hand, she allegedly supports the strengthening of sanctions, but the sanctions she is talking about are formal. At the meeting, Tsikhanouskaia proposed to impose sanctions against officials involved in repressions against Belarusians, as well as enterprises that use the political prisoners’ labour. At the moment these sanctions are simply not enough. Even if sanctions are imposed against these enterprises, this will not hit the Lukashenka regime in any way. This is just a demonstrative struggle. I do not understand why all these lists are submitted.
It’s quite strange because Tsikhanouskaia's office allegedly supports the introduction of these fake sanctions, but her adviser Volha Harbunova directly says that it is time to lift the sanctions. Supposedly, it’s possible to start bargaining with the dictator in this way. Tatsiana Khomich, a representative of the so-called Coordination Council, holds the same position. In fact, Tsikhanouskaшa's office is playing a double game. European politicians are simply confused about all this. This is harmful to the entire Belarusian society.”