![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/78\/590x\/secondary\/5016762.jpg?r=1697541365356\")
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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya warned Belarus is facing \u201ca humanitarian disaster\u201d and that 15 to 20 people are being hauled into detention every day.<\/p>\n
The exiled Belarussian leader compared living in the country to being part of a \u201cdictatorship\u201d and that people were still being detained because of the 2020 mass protests against the country\u2019s government after Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner although the election outcome was falsified.<\/p>\n
They are also being held for backing Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Sviatlana, who has been unable to speak to her jailed husband Sergei Tikhanovsky for seven months, said Russian influence was creeping into society.<\/p>\n
Her husband was thrown behind bars two days before the 2020 election after he planned to stand against Lukashenko but she had to take up the fight instead.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt is a humanitarian disaster in Belarus.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day 15 to 20 people are being detained. Every day, very silently you will not see this brutality on TV but every day 15 to 20 people apply for assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are being detained for the protests in 2020, for supporting Ukraine or for speaking the Belarussian language for example for all the cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, we see how Russia is colonising our country and it also goes unnoticed by the world. We as people in Belarus are under huge repression – we are trying to preserve our national identity or to educate our children. What is truth and what is not?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE <\/strong> Top Russian generals cover up huge setbacks in Ukraine to avoid upsetting Putin<\/strong><\/p>\n She said if children said anything that was not in line with the regime parents would get called into schools and that the ideologies they were taught would be changed.<\/p>\n \u201cChildren say everything in schools and so new ideologies appear in every school and university,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cParents of the children will be invited for conversations in school but Putin and Lukashenko have a friendship, they need each other and they support each other and they are dependent to some extent on each other.<\/p>\n \u201cLukashenko is strengthening his personal security apparatus. He\u2019s afraid of people, Belarussians, he\u2019s afraid of Minsk volunteers in Ukraine. He\u2019s very afraid of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n She will today (tues) be giving the annual Westminster Lecture in the Houses of Parliament and will be taking the opportunity to remind Britain and the rest of the world of the situation in Belarus.<\/p>\n We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pity Belarus is not in focus but is overshadowed by other events but the situation is still there and I will ask for global solidarity for our cause and to send the most important messages about Belarus about the connection of Belarus and Ukraine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Belarussian regime is collaborant in this war. But it\u2019s important we help Ukraine and Ukrainians as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cBelarus is facing a humanitarian disaster like in Stalin times.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are afraid of every knock on the door not knowing who will be behind, your neighbour or the KGB who can detain you at any moment or when you walk the streets and speak to somebody in the Belarussian language you can end up spending time in prison.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s how you feel when you live in a dictatorship. We need assistance, we need the political will of countries to do this or that. We are knocking on all the doors. We are trying to be creative. I can\u2019t promise anything but we are trying.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/78\/590x\/secondary\/5016775.jpg?r=1697541365410\")
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