ベラルーシ反政権派指導者、ロシアとの決別呼び掛け

【ワシントンＤ．ＣＡＦＰ＝時事】リトアニアに亡命しているベラルーシの反政権派指導者スベトラーナ・チハノフスカヤ氏は２２日、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻を支持するアレクサンドル・ルカシェンコ大統領を非難し、ロシアとの関係を断つよう祖国に訴えた。（写真はベラルーシの反政権派指導者スベトラーナ・チハノフスカヤ氏）　
　訪米中のチハノフスカヤ氏は連邦議会議事堂で記者会見し、「ベラルーシの内政へのロシアの干渉に反撃する時が来た。ロシアは非合法政権を支持し、わが国を植民地扱いしている」と批判。
　「侵略国（ロシア）の軍隊はわが国の領土や領空、インフラを自由に使ってウクライナを攻撃し、脅かしている。ロシア軍はベラルーシから完全に撤退すべきであり、わが国は戦争への関与をやめなければならない」と主張した。
　ベラルーシ国民には「侵略国との密接な関係」を断つよう呼び掛けた。また、いずれは１９９９年にロシアと結んだ「連合国家創設条約」を破棄し、軍事同盟を終了させることになるだろうと強調した。
　ベラルーシでは２０２０年の大統領選で、強権的な親ロシア派のルカシェンコ氏が６期目の勝利を宣言。対立候補だったチハノフスカヤ氏も勝利を主張し、ルカシェンコ氏に対する大規模な抗議デモが広がった。チハノフスカヤ氏は抗議運動を率いたとして今月、欠席裁判で禁錮１５年を言い渡された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/23-16:58）

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya urged her country to break ties with neighbor Russia as she spoke out Wednesday against President Alexander Lukashenko's support for the war in Ukraine.
Lukashenko, who has been in power in Minsk for almost 30 years, is a key ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and allowed the Kremlin to launch its intervention in Ukraine from his country's territory.
It is time to push back against Russia's interference into the internal affairs of Belarus. It supports the illegitimate regime and conducts colonialist actions against our serenity and national identity, Tikhanovskaya told a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington.
The aggressor military freely uses our territory, airspace and infrastructure to attack and threaten Ukraine. The Russian military should be fully withdrawn from Belarus and our country must stop participation in the war.
She called for Belarusians to break off close relations with the aggressor and vowed the country would eventually leave the 1999 union state treaty envisioning deeper integration between Minsk and Moscow, and end their military alliance.
Earlier this month, Belarus sentenced Tikhanovskaya in absentia to 15 years for spearheading protests against the former Soviet country's leader, who claimed he had won a sixth presidential term in disputed 2020 elections.
Since being forced to flee to neighboring EU member Lithuania, Tikhanovskaya has urged greater Western pressure on Lukashenko, whose government was sanctioned by the West in the wake of the election.
Almost 1,500 Belarusians are arbitrarily detained on politically motivated charges, according to the United Nations, while more than 2,000 have been convicted under so-called extremism charges, including insulting the president.
Lukashenko... does everything Putin wants and, against the will of the people, he enabled the war against Ukraine and must bear the full responsibility for this, Tikhanovskaya said.
The event was arranged by US senators Roger Wicker and Jeanne Shaheen, a Mississippi Republican and Democrat from New Hampshire respectively who founded the Free Belarus Caucus in 2021.
Lukashenko has allowed Belarus's sovereign territory to be used to further Putin's expansionist agenda, facilitate (Russia's) unprovoked attacks on Ukraine, Shaheen said.
And it's important to remember that there are brave Belarusians, independent journalists, human rights defenders and other members of civil society, who are bravely fighting in exile to expose Lukashenko's criminal complicity in Russia's war in Ukraine.