Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke to the US president Joe Biden, telling him that Belarusians “fearlessly stand alongside the people of Ukraine”, CNN reported. 

Tsikhanouskaya’s comments to Biden took place over the phone, Saturday, while the US president was aboard Air Force One. 

Tsikhanouskaya said, “I thanked President Biden for today’s speech in Warsaw and the US leadership in the great battle for freedom, the battle between liberty and repression”, adding, “I assured President Biden that Belarusians are at the forefront of this struggle – and fearlessly stand alongside the people of Ukraine. I am confident that freedom and humanity will prevail. I asked the president to keep Belarus on the agenda”. 

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According to the White House, Biden responded to Tsikhanouskaya, thanking him for attending the Warsaw speech, and “underscored the continued support of the United States for the Belarusian people in defending and advancing human rights, including freedom of expression, and free and fair elections”.

Meanwhile, the current Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has had high words of praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is no secret that Belarus is aligned with Moscow and has allowed itself to be used as a staging area for troops to invade Ukraine, on the ground, from the north. Belarus’ support has placed it on the sanctions list of many countries too. 

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Lukashenko had also spoken to a Japanese television station, TBS, where he assured that Putin was in great shape despite accounts of Russian defeats in Ukraine. He said, “Putin is in great form, in better shape than ever… This is a fully sane, healthy individual who is physically fit – he’s an athlete”. The self-labelled “Europe’s last dictator” added, “He’ll get a cold at all our funerals, as they say here”. 

Biden visited Europe for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine began, where he added Poland as a stop and took the chance to meet Ukrainian refugees in the country.