ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
A political opposition leader from Belarus is out of prison after five years. Sergei Tikhanovsky was a blogger and activist who opposed Alexander Lukashenko's government, and when he announced his plan to run for president, the regime arrested him, along with thousands of dissidents who protested in the streets against Lukashenko's three-decade rule. His wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, is now the leader of the opposition government and is in exile. She was just at this year's NATO summit at The Hague and joins us from Amsterdam. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
SVIATLANA TSIKHANOUSKAYA: Hello.
SHAPIRO: The last time you spoke to us, in 2023, you had not heard your husband's voice in almost three years, and here's what you told us.
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TSIKHANOUSKAYA: The only chance to send my love to him is through lawyer, who visits him once a week.
SHAPIRO: And now your husband is free, so tell us about the moment you were reunited.
TSIKHANOUSKAYA: You know, this moment was very emotional. After five long years, I finally hugged my husband. But you can't not thinking about all those who stay behind bars till now.
SHAPIRO: Do you know why he was released now, when officially he still had many years left to serve?
TSIKHANOUSKAYA: My husband was released in the result of efforts of the United States of America, State Department, President Trump. It's not the first release on this venue. And this time, General Kellogg came to Minsk, and I think it was like, you know, payment of Lukashenko for this public visit.
SHAPIRO: You mentioned General Kellogg. That's Trump's envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who visited Lukashenko, which was a stark change in policy from the Biden administration, which tried to isolate and sanction the regime. Do you think Trump's involvement is a positive development in the region?
TSIKHANOUSKAYA: Look, we are grateful for - to President Trump for his attempts to negotiate about peace in Ukraine because victory of Ukraine is extremely essential for all our region, and the fate of Belarus and Ukraine intertwined. But of course, our position here is clear - that Lukashenko serves to Putin's interest. He's co-aggressor (ph) in the war. He cannot be trusted.
For Lukashenko, this meeting was extremely important because he wants to legitimize himself. He want to normalize relationship with the democratic world. But we need to keep this pressure on the regime because we see repressions are continuing.
SHAPIRO: Now that your husband, who used to lead the opposition, is free, you have been leading the opposition for the last five years. How do you see the next chapter going forward?
TSIKHANOUSKAYA: We will strengthen each other. We are not going to compete. Just imagine a person who spent five years in isolation. He haven't a clue what was going on these five years. He needs time, you know, to realize how we are working, what's our structures, how we're organized. So then it will him who will decide his future track.
SHAPIRO: Just on a personal level, your husband says he was tortured and kept in solitary confinement for years. You and he and your family have changed in the time that he's been away. How do you both pick up the pieces and recover what was lost from all those years apart?
TSIKHANOUSKAYA: What for me is important that my children have this pillar in our family. I look at my oldest son - he's 15 now - and I think that all these five years, he had huge burden on the shoulders that he's the only man in our family. And he took this responsibility for his, like, women - younger sister and mother. And it was so difficult emotionally for him. And I look on him now, he's just a little bit relief. And my younger daughter, who saw her daddy at 4, she might even don't remember, you know, this father-daughter relationship, you know? And it's so interesting to see how they knowing each other, like, from scratch. So the only problem - I have (laughter) to cook twice more now.
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SHAPIRO: It's a nice problem to have. That's Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the opposition government in Belarus, now living in Lithuania with her husband, Sergei, who was just released after five years in prison. Thank you so much for talking with us.
TSIKHANOUSKAYA: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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