Democracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Putin just gave Belarus an unwanted ‘gift’

By
June 29, 2023 at 2:26 p.m. EDT
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya poses for a portrait in Paris, 2021. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)
5 min

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is the leader of the democratic opposition of Belarus.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has announced that Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the leader of the attempted mutiny against the Kremlin, has arrived in Belarus. It was Lukashenko who mediated the deal between Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin that brought an end to the march on Moscow by Wagner Group mercenaries. The agreement included a promise of asylum for the deposed Wagner leader — in Belarus.