The exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana
Tikhanovskaya  has asked the United
States for tighter sanctions on businesses in her country in hopes of forcing
them away from veteran strongman Alexander Lukashenko.

Tikhanovskaya is on a
visit to Washington as President Joe Biden‘s administration vows to step up
pressure on the pro-Moscow Belarusian leader. She claims  to have won last year’s election in which
Lukashenko said he secured a sixth term.

Tikhanovskaya presented a list of companies on which she
hopes the United States can impose further sanctions in a meeting with
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. Tikhanovskaya said that she hoped
for further sanctions against state-controlled companies in the areas of
potash, oil, wood, and steel.

“We understand that only Belarusians themselves can
bring the country to democratic changes but we hope for American active and
non-symbolic participation,” AFP quoted Tikhanovskaya  as saying to a roundtable of the State
Department Correspondents’ Association.

“President Biden says that the world is struggling
between autocracy and democracy. So the frontline of this struggle is in
Belarus at the moment. As a champion of democracy, the USA can help get things
done. Businesses will be forced to understand that Lukashenko is over and they
have to choose to join a new, transparent country,” she said.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Blinken had a
“very good discussion” with Tikhanovskaya but declined to go into
detail on any talk of new sanctions.

“We know that sanctions are a powerful tool and one
that the United States continues to use in an effort to change the behavior of
the Lukashenko regime. We stand with the people of Belarus and members of civil
society. We support their aspirations for a democratic, free and prosperous
future,” Price was quoted as saying by AFP.

Tikhanovskaya said the loopholes in EU sanctions that allowed
existing contracts with international companies to go ahead should end.

“Most of the international enterprises are afraid of
USA sanctions first of all and even the threat of new sanctions — new European
sanctions or USA sanctions — can influence the behavior of Lukashenko,”
she said.

On Tuesday, Tikhanovskaya  met with Biden’s national security advisor,
Jake Sullivan, as well as members of Congress.

Previously a stay-at-home mother, Tikhanovskaya ran in place
of her husband who was detained before the election. She fled to Lithuania for
safety as security forces crackdown on protests.