Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya says the United States is looking at increasing technological assistance to journalists and activists working in Belarus.
Tsikhanouskaya made the comment after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior U.S. officials and lawmakers in Washington.
"I was assured of full support for the Belarusian democratic movement," she told reporters at the State Department. "We also spoke about providing Belarusian journalists and activists with equipment and technology," she said.
The meeting discussed ways to circumvent disinformation put out by strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime, she said.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Tsikhanouskaya on April 28, and Blinken joined the group for part of the meeting, according to a statement from spokesman Ned Price.
“They discussed the Lukashenka regime’s continued support of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine and U.S. efforts to hold the regime accountable for its complicity, as well as for its sustained crackdown on human rights and democratic freedoms,” Price said in a statement.
Together they called for an end to the Lukashenka regime’s “ongoing crackdown on democratic voices and for the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Belarus and emphasized the United States’ enduring support for the Belarusian people’s democratic aspirations,” Price said.
Lukashenka, who has grown closer to Moscow since the start of a crackdown on dissent following the 2020 election, has been one of the main international supporters of President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Tsikhanouskaya, who Western governments and the Belarusian opposition believe was the rightful winner of the 2020 election, continued her visit on April 29, meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat-California) and several U.S. senators.
"We agreed that Belarus should be a higher priority for the United States," she said on Twitter. "The democratic world needs to stand together in the face of tyranny."
Tsikhanouskaya also met on April 29 with State Department sanctions coordinator Jim O’Brien to discuss how to find and freeze Lukashenka’s assets abroad, make sanctions efficient, close loopholes, and block the money given to him by the International Monetary Fund.
“The National Bank's international reserves must be frozen until a free & fair presidential election is held in Belarus,” she said on Twitter after the meeting.
Tsikhanouskaya said she shared evidence of Lukashenka's support for the war in Ukraine as well as a list of companies and countries that have helped circumvent Western sanctions against the regime.
Tsikhanouskaya, who Belarus for Lithuania out of concern for her personal safety, visited Washington for the memorial service of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who died on March 23.
