San Francisco Frontiers - Lukashenko will always be threat to Ukraine: Belarus opposition leader

Ukraine has for months warned Belarus against being dragged further into the war, highlighting increased attacks by Russia on northern Ukraine and alleging military preparations had been detected on the Belarusian side of the border.

Lukashenko -- in power since 1994 -- allowed Moscow to launch its 2022 Ukraine invasion through Belarus but has denied plans for direct involvement in the war.

"As long as Lukashenko earns on the blood of Ukrainians by helping the Russian war machine, he will always be a danger for Ukraine," Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told AFP.

In an interview on the sidelines of a conference on Ukrainian reconstruction in the Polish city of Gdansk, she said Lukashenko was "just as guilty" as President Vladimir Putin for Europe's worst conflict since WWII.

Lukashenko's Belarus is economically and politically reliant on the Kremlin and hosts some of Moscow's nuclear weapons on its territory.

Tikhanovskaya challenged Lukashenko in the 2020 election, with her defeat triggering mass protests and a brutal crackdown by the security services on her supporters.

- No 'illusions' -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week Belarus had switched off signal repeaters that help guide Russian attack drones following a threat from Kyiv.

And Lukashenko appeared to try to reduce the tensions, saying in a televised meeting with officials that he had met a Ukrainian representative in Minsk and that Belarus would not be dragged into the war.

Tikhanovskaya said that while Lukashenko "took a step back", he would not have been able to without a green light from the Kremlin.

"If they were switched off it means that Russia agreed," she said, saying he could not have acted against Moscow.

"He would never do that, let's not have any illusions," said Tikhanovskaya, who recently returned from a trip to Kyiv.

The opposition leader also said she hoped US-led negotiations to free more political prisoners from Belarus will continue.

Hundreds have been released under negotiations urged by US President Donald Trump and in exchange for sanctions relief.

But the Viasna rights group counts 852 political prisoners still behind bars Belarus.

Tikhanovskaya said the true number is likely higher since "some people are afraid and do not give the information that their relatives are in prison for political cases".

She was especially worried about mothers in prison, as well as older and sick political prisoners.

In Gdansk, she also met Poland's ex-president Lech Walesa, who led the 1980s Solidarity movement that provoked the downfall of the Communist regime in Warsaw.

Tikhanovskaya said the pair discussed how to be "prepared" for a change in Belarus as the "moment could be unexpected".

Tikhanovskaya has spent years fostering Western support for a democratic Belarus.

"No war and no revolution can be won if you don't have allies," she said.

M.Powell--SFF