BELARUS opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya will ask for tougher sanctions against pro-Kremlin officials in Belarus when she meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today on her first official visit to Ottawa.

Canada has sanctioned more than 60 members of President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, Belarusian oligarchs and others for their involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, Tikhanovskaya said Ottawa must close “loopholes” that allow evasion of those measures.

Speaking with reporters ahead of her talks with Trudeau, she said she would also seek increased aid for Belarusian civil society, including independent journalists, as well as political prisoners – who number at least 1,400 – and their families.

“I will ask Canada to speak out and to take steps in support of our independence,” she said.

“Today the very existence of Belarus is under threat. I will ask Canada to stay aligned with the European Union, US and UK and develop a joint strategy on Belarus. We must prevent Belarus from being absorbed by Russia.”

She said it was crucial to show support now for Belarusians who are “fighting for the democratic values we all share” or risk losing them.

“When people see that they are abandoned, that they are forgotten… they lose this energy, they lose motivation,” she said.

Tikhanovskaya lives in exile after fleeing abroad in the face of veteran leader Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown launched when he claimed victory over her at 2020 polls seen as stolen by the West.

Over the weekend, she met with Canada’s defence minister, Anita Anand, to request equipment for an estimated 500 Belarusian soldiers fighting in Ukraine against Russia.

“They need first aid kits, warm clothing, simple stuff that will help them to survive the coming winter,” she said.

Ottawa recently earmarked another C$500 million (RM1.7 billion) for Ukraine’s war effort, doubling its commitment to Kyiv.

Moscow has used Belarus as a key launchpad for its war on neighbouring Ukraine and is deploying thousands of troops to its close ally as part of a joint task force.

The announcement of the joint deployment last month between Belarus and Russia fuelled fears that Minsk could be gearing up to send its troops into Ukraine just as the Kremlin’s Russian forces have been pushed back.

Tikhanovskaya pointed to a recent poll she said showed 86% of Belarusians are strongly opposed to the participation of Belarus’s army in the conflict.

“If such an order is made,” she said, “we would call on (Belarusian soldiers) to disobey, to defect, to refuse to fulfil the orders.” – AFP, November 22, 2022.