Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Belarus’s Battle for Freedom

As the conflict in Ukraine approaches its eighth month, a prevalent concern—even concern—is that Western conflict fatigue may quickly set in. Whereas help for Ukraine remains steadfast throughout a lot of the West, some polls have proven flagging help for sanctions on Russia in the event that they proceed to exacerbate financial challenges at house. The prevailing fear is that this coming winter, amid rising vitality demand and a cost-of-living disaster, may expose the bounds of Western help.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition chief who has made widespread trigger between the fights for freedom and democracy in her native Belarus and Ukraine, understands the repercussions of such complacency higher than most. Since rising because the unlikely political challenger to longtime Belarusian chief Alexander Lukashenko in 2020, when she put herself ahead to contest the election within the place of her jailed husband Sergei Tsikhanouski (a contest she believes she would have won, had it not been for vote tampering), and changing into the de facto leader of Belarus’s pro-democracy motion in 2020, Tsikhanouskaya has devoted her life to making sure that her nation doesn’t slip from the world’s consideration. Over the previous two years, she has met with world leaders, represented “democratic Belarus” at worldwide our bodies, and lobbied Western capitals to sanction Lukashenko’s dictatorial regime, all of the whereas dwelling in exile in neighboring Lithuania. To this point, her efforts have succeeded in guaranteeing that the West doesn’t acknowledge the legitimacy of Lukashenko’s 2020 election victory—a consequence that was dismissed by observers each inside and outdoors the nation as rigged—however they’ve but to pressure Lukashenko from energy or usher in free and truthful vote.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Belarus has largely fallen off the world’s collective radar, save for the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice earlier this month to honor the jailed Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski as one of many recipients of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. (Tsikhanouskaya was additionally among the favorites to win the prize.) As Tsikhanouskaya sees it, the world can not afford to overlook Belarus—particularly now. “We want Belarus to not be ignored as a result of Belarus just isn’t solely part of this disaster,” Tsikhanouskaya tells TIME, referencing Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. “Belarus may be a part of the answer.”

Belarus has performed an necessary, if barely understated, function in Russia’s conflict in Ukraine. Within the days main as much as the invasion, Lukashenko invited Russia to stage its troops and equipment on Belarusian soil in a transfer that appeared to formalize the nation’s standing as a Russian vassal state. Whereas Belarusian troops have but to be deployed to struggle in neighboring Ukraine, Lukashenko has not dominated out their direct involvement. Certainly, the Belarusian chief introduced final week an settlement between Minsk and Moscow to deploy what he referred to as a joint “regional group of forces.” Almost 9,000 Russian troopers have since arrived in Belarus as a part of this joint grouping, according to Belarusian officials—a transfer that means Russia may as soon as once more use Belarus as a staging floor for additional assaults on Ukraine.

Lukashenko’s posturing may be defined much less by his private dedication to the Russian invasion (he instructed the Related Press that he thought it had “dragged on” in Might) and extra by his personal want for self-preservation. It was Russian President Vladimir Putin, in any case, who provided Lukashenko with security forces to crush the pro-democracy demonstrations towards his rule in 2020. The Russian President additionally backed Lukashenko with a $1.5 billion loan to assist him overcome Western sanctions. By supporting his benefactors within the Kremlin, Lukashenko just isn’t solely providing Putin a return on his funding, however is shoring up his personal place at house.

It’s because of this, Tsikhanouskaya argues, that long-term safety in Europe might be elusive as long as Lukashenko stays in energy. If there’s a Putin-friendly regime in Belarus and if Russian troops are allowed to stay on its territory, she says, “nobody in our neighboring international locations will sleep peacefully.”

Whereas Russian provocations past Ukraine are seemingly unlikely given the difficulties that Moscow is already going through in Ukraine, an extra weaponization of Belarusian territory nonetheless poses a possible vulnerability for NATO, significantly because it issues the alliance’s Baltic members. Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia have lengthy regarded Belarus as a key buffer between themselves and Russia. By allowing Russian troops in Belarus, Lukashenko has not solely introduced Moscow nearer to the doorsteps of the Baltic international locations, however he has additionally granted Russia direct entry to the strategic “Suwałki Hall,” a 65-mile stretch of land sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania that connects Belarus with the westernmost and non-contiguous Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits on the Baltic Sea. The prevailing concern is that if Russian troops are capable of management the Suwałki Hall from both facet, they might successfully use it to chop off NATO’s Baltic members from the remainder of the alliance, posing a significant problem if NATO wished to ship floor troops to strengthen its japanese flank.

Whereas some specialists have downplayed the significance of the Suwałki Hall, noting that the land hole represents as a lot of a strategic situation for Russia because it does NATO international locations, is is nonetheless seen as “a weak place, relying on what Belarus does,” says Ben Hodges, the previous commander of the U.S. Military in Europe. The truth that Lukashenko has already been seen to forfeit Belarusian sovereignty to be able to keep in energy makes it unlikely that he’ll have the ability to set up belief with Belarus’s closest neighbors even after the conflict ends. “So long as he’s there or any individual like him,” says Hodges, “it will likely be very tough for the neighbors of Belarus to see them as something aside from a puppet of Moscow.”

When requested what the West can do to deal with this situation, Tsikhanouskaya referred to as for consistency. “Proceed making use of a number of factors of stress on the regime politically, economically,” she says. “Don’t acknowledge Lukashenko, don’t ship ambassadors. Be robust on this interval of historical past.” Greater than something, Tsikhanouskaya says that she hopes that their allies within the West received’t succumb to conflict fatigue.

“It’s actually excessive time for Western international locations to point out their power,” she says. “Not solely as politicians, however as folks.”

Write to Yasmeen Serhan at yasmeen.serhan@time.com.