Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya argues that Europe will be safer if Belarus is free

IN ORDER TO help Ukraine, it’s time for the West to learn from the mistakes it made in Belarus in 2020. I feel a sense of déjà vu watching Volodymyr Zelensky desperately calling for the world’s attention. He does so even as peaceful cities are being destroyed by missiles launched from my own country, Belarus. This is only possible because when Alexander Lukashenko, a dictator who has run Belarus for more than 27 years, claimed victory over me in a rigged election in our country less than two years ago, the West did too little. Vladimir Putin props up his regime. The West’s weakness has led to Belarus becoming an accomplice in the most brutal European conflict since the second world war.