OPINION: President Zelensky, Don’t Forget about Your Democratic Belarusian and Other Allies

Both Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and the exiled leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya are currently in New York for the meetings of the UN General Assembly.

Zelensky will speak from the podium and will use the occasion to garner international support for Ukraine’s now long-standing heroic war against the Russian imperialist aggressor.

It is likely that Russia’s barbaric war against Ukraine will dominate the speeches along with the accusations being levelled against Israel in connection with what many states, including Western ones, regard as an excessive and even genocidal in nature military response by Israel in Gaza to Palestinian terrorists.

How the Ukrainian leader refers to what is happening in Gaza will be a test of his team’s diplomacy and moral leadership in action.

But Tsikhanouskaya, widely regarded as the real winner in the Belarusian presidential election of 2000 that was rigged by the country’s dictator and long-standing vassal of Moscow Alexander Lukashenko, after which he brutally suppressed the protests, will not have the privilege of addressing the world from the tribune of the UN General Assembly.

She is nevertheless in New York rallying international support for Belarus in every way that she can.

According to her advisers the principal message she is conveying is that “The UN should urgently act to free all political prisoners in our country, while world leaders should address the political, humanitarian crisis in Belarus and its role in global security.”

Other Topics of Interest

Putin Responds to Zelensky’s Letter, Says Meeting Would Be Pointless

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 5, Vladimir Putin said he had read Zelensky’s open letter that morning. He addressed comments about his age and time in office, criticized Ukraine’s election policy, and claimed Zelensky had requested a meeting through a Russian businessman. Putin said he had never refused talks but questioned the purpose of such a meeting and argued it would primarily benefit Ukraine.

As I have previously noted in these pages, for some inexplicable and unforgivable reason, Zelensky and his team have continued to cold shoulder Tsikhanouskaya and the movement she represents.

In the meantime, Lukashenko has become even more of Putin’s puppet and allowed Belarus to become not only a staging area for its military pressure on Ukraine, but also Poland and the Baltic members of NATO.

It is high time that Zelensky stopped ignoring the forces of democratic Belarus and also championed their cause, as she and her team are doing with respect to Ukraine.

In New York, Tsikhanouskaya is continuing to express solidarity with Ukraine and to emphasize that both her country and its beleaguered southern neighbor should be seen as forming a united front in the struggle for freedom from Russian imperialist and despotic aggression

Today, the leader of the Belarusian democratic national opposition posted this statement on X:

“I am often asked about Ukraine. And my answer is that our fight is the same. Without a free Ukraine, there will be no free Belarus. Without a free Belarus, there will always be danger to our region. Europe’s security depends on both.”

A few days earlier on Sep. 18., she also assured her readers on X:

“When Ukraine is fully liberated & Belarus topples Lukashenka, Europe will change. A chain of democracies from the Baltic to the Black Sea will stand as a shield against tyranny. Democratic Belarus will be Putin’s worst nightmare & Europe’s best chance for real, lasting peace.”

She went on to emphasize that Belarusian democratic patriots are supporting Ukraine in deeds, and not only in words, including on the battlefield.  She wrote:

“Belarusians do not wait for freedom. They fight for it in Ukraine. The largest foreign unit in the army is Belarusian, because the fight for Ukraine is also the fight for Belarus. Victory for Ukraine means freedom for us all.”

It is to be hoped that President Zelensky will take note of this.

He has earned the respect of the free world as a war leader and embodiment of a defiant and resilient Ukraine. 

It is time for him to assume the broader role as the champion of other states struggling against Russian tyranny or the threat from it. And here, Belarus comes first, followed by Georgia and Moldova, not to mention the subject peoples in the present Russian empire.

President Zelensky our eyes and hopes are on you.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.