The epic feud shows that nothing in Belarus is out of politics | Belarus

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The epic sprinter Kristina Tsimanoskaya showed how the Belarusian government’s brutal suppression of all criticism has politicized the lives and actions of even those who are reluctant to openly oppose the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko.

“I am stunned that this situation has become a political scandal,” Tsimanoskaya said during a press conference in Warsaw, arriving from Tokyo via Vienna on Wednesday. “This situation was just about sports… All I wanted was for people to take responsibility.”

She said that until she was publicly attacked on television last week as a traitor, she was planning to return to Belarus and would still be ready to return when she felt safe.

“All I want is to stay in the sport and continue my sporting career,” she told reporters.

With broad blows, the reaction to government pressure was reminiscent of the emergence of the country’s largest opposition leader, Svyatlana Tsykhanoskaya, who became a reluctant presidential candidate only after Lukashenko imprisoned her husband. She told her supporters, if elected, that she would seek new elections and resign.

Now in exile, Tsikhanoskaya is an internationally recognized figure, meeting Joe Biden and Boris Johnson in recent weeks to push for sanctions against Belarus and greater support for the country’s opposition.

She was one of three women who formed a political triumvirate last year before Lukashenko launched a massive crackdown on dissent. Another, Maria Kalinsikava, is on trial on charges of seeking to overthrow the government and threatening state security. You face 12 years if convicted.

When asked about her freedom of expression in Belarus, Tsimanoskaya described a tightrope she was forced to walk in her daily life.

“I can say that I have always expressed my opinion publicly,” she said Thursday. “But you always have to watch your words so that it does not lead to consequences. Yes, in Belarus I am not alone but everyone is afraid to say the wrong thing. “

Pavel Latushko, a Belarusian opposition member in exile, said Tsimanoskaya was “out of politics” during her press conference on Thursday, protecting her from asking questions about Lukashenko or the opposition.

However, it seems hard to imagine anything outside of politics in Belarus at this point, as even NGOs have been closed in recent weeks due to their perceived ties to the West.

The threat to athletes has become so great that an entire organization, the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), has emerged to protect those under pressure.

BSSF executive director Alexander Obikin, who helped Tsimanouskaya communicate with Polish authorities after she sought help while in Japan, said.

He believes that Lukashenko personally intervened to demand the return of Tsimanouskaya to Minsk, and that the player decided to announce only as soon as it became clear that she was in a certain danger.

“I understood that they were taking her to Minsk to do something for her,” he said. “That’s when she decided she had to go out.”

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