THE POWER OF THE WORD (The President's podcast) #3: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a former teacher and translator, a wife, a mother of two, and above all a fearless person, the most prominent face of the Belarusian opposition.

Four years after her life was turned upside down, she is still fighting tirelessly for the return of democracy to Belarus. After the arrest of her husband Sergei Tsikhanousky, who was considered to be Alexander Lukashenko's most serious electoral rival, she decided to run for the presidency of the country herself in 2020, without any political experience. She has committed herself to calling new democratic elections within six months if she wins, so that the eliminated opposition candidates can stand again and she would withdraw from the race. However, as Lukashenko was declared the winner for the sixth time in a row, anti-government protests broke out. She and her two children were forced to flee to Lithuania, from where she continues to fight tirelessly against the Lukashenko regime and to rally international support for the restoration of democracy in Belarus.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was one of the most prominent participants in last year's Bled Strategic Forum, and the President of the Republic spoke with her when she attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September. Unfortunately, the situation in Belarus is still not any better today.