Belarusians today are living under a double occupation - on the one hand, the dictatorial regime of Lukashenka, and on the other hand, the pro-Kremlin regime, so it would be wrong to equate them.
Natalia Radina, a Belarusian journalist and chief editor of the “Charter 97”, reported this on the air of Apostrophe TV.
According to her, when millions of Belarusians hit the streets in 2020, it showed that people themselves do not support the regime. And in 2022, they confirmed that they were absolutely against the war in Ukraine.
"But today, people in Belarus are under such a pressure of repression, and in case when the EU countries impose sanctions against them, it will be immoral. This simply cannot be done," the journalist thoughts.
Natalia Radina
Natalia Radina noted that it is very difficult for people, but it is simply impossible to express political position and disagreement in Belarus today. "This automatically leads to arrests. Even a post on social media can cause a jail term from 5 to 7 years. Even for likes people are imprisoned, not to mention some posts". She added that patriots in the country “laid low” because there is no point for them in going to prison.
She also admitted that in total, according to various estimates, about 80 thousands of people are currently imprisoned in Belarus. "Human rights activists are not even able to count the number of people who have been victims of repression and ended up in jail. And the numbers that the regime is currently announcing - about two thousands of people - do not match the reality," the oppositionist said.
"But I can say for sure that Belarusians hate Lukashenko, and this feeling hasn't gone away since 2020," she stated. The journalist added that the hate for the dictator is latent and simply accumulates.
But at some point, when the circumstances change, people will be able to reveal all of this," Natalia Radina resumed.