DISINFO: Poland and Lithuania finance Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's political agenda
SUMMARY
Polish and Lithuanian services finance and control the political activity of the Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the protests in Belarus.
The protests in Belarus erupted after the results of the presidential election in Belarus on 9 August, which are considered fraudulent by a large part of Belarusian society.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was the main opposition candidate in the Belarusian Presidential election and was forced to go into exile in Lithuania after being detained and receiving threats following the beginning of the protests.
The claim that Poland and Lithuania control the activity of Ms Tikhanovskaya is false. The Belarusian opposition, represented by Ms.Tikhanovskaya and others was awarded the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.
The European Council condemned, on 19 August 2020, the violence against peaceful protesters and announced that it would soon adopt a list of sanctions for those responsible for violence in Belarus. “As the elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair, and did not meet international standards, the EU does not recognise the results presented by the Belarus authorities” stated a European Council press release.
On the 2nd of October 2020, the EU imposed restrictive measures against 40 individuals identified as responsible for repression and intimidation against peaceful demonstrators, opposition members and journalists in the wake of the 2020 presidential election in Belarus, as well as for misconduct of the electoral process.
On the 4th of November, EU approved sanctions against the second list of 15 Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko, accused of election fraud and repression.
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