DISINFO: Lithuania pays Tsikhanouskaya salary to destabilise the situation in Belarus
SUMMARY
Lithuania supports Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya with taxpayers money and pays her salary. It is presented as Western support for "Belarusian people". But the aim of this "support" is to destabilise the situation inside Belarus.
RESPONSE
Recurrent disinformation narrative against the Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the Belarusian opposition in general.
This disinformation claim aims to smear Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as a puppet of the West, allegedly sponsored by unwitting Lithuanian taxpayers. No evidence is presented to back such claims. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the main opposition candidate in the Belarusian Presidential election and was forced to go into exile in Lithuania after being detained and receiving threats following the beginning of the protests. She was awarded the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the highest tribute paid by the European Union to Human Rights work. In July 2021, Lithuania designated Tsikhanouskaya's team as a “democratic representation of Belarus”.
Lithuania is a neighbour of Belarus and it continues to support the Belarusian people. In the context of brutal persecution of protesters in Belarus, Lithuania made some steps to support civil society in the neighbour country. In August 2020 Lithuania opened the special “humanitarian corridor” for Belarusians to allow them to arrive under the so-called humanitarian exception. Vilnius University offered free studies and scholarships to Belarusian students etc.
See other examples of disinformation about Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: Lithuania gives Tsikhanouskaya special treatment; Lithuania provided Tsikhanouskaya with a villa, a manor house and a team of stylists paid by taxpayers; Poland and Lithuania finance Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s political agenda.