now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. with the world focused on russia s invasion of ukraine, it s easy to overlook one other key element of vladimir putin s greater russia strategy moscow s ever tighter grip on ukraine s northern neighbour belarus, now used as a launchpad for the ukraine assault. belarus s authoritarian president lukashenko seems to be in putin s pocket, whether he likes it or not. my guest is exiled leader of the anti lukashenko movement, svetla na tikhanovskaya. is the fate of belarus now tied
and we didn t want something like this to repeat in our lands. but illegitimate lukashenko has to pay for the support he got from the kremlin after the fraudulent election in 2020. and now he s paying with our sovereignty, with our lands. and, you know, i really feel maybe shame, you know? he s doing it, and we belarusians feeling this shame that we became aggressive towards our brother, ukraine. you talk about shame, but i guess in practical terms there is nothing that any belarus civilian can do to try to affect what is happening. there were 30,000 russian troops on that border in a joint military exercise with lukashenko s forces. they, of course, have now moved into ukraine. there was no possibility that any belarusian civilian could stop that happening.
ukraine s president volodymyr zelensky has accused russia of committing a war crime by bombing a maternity and children s hospital in the besieged city of mariupol. a regional governor said at least 17 people had been injured. the attack came while a ceasefire was supposed to be in place. elsewhere in the country, ceasefires did hold, allowing more civilians to flee other besieged cities, after the russians agreed to a humanitarian route. some 7,000 people were evacuated from the city of sumy. the un is calling the civilian situation a dark, historic first . russia s increasing economic isolation continues, after mcdonalds, coca cola and unilever announced they were pausing operations. heineken becomes the latest high profile name tojoin that list. this is bbc news.
you are scared to go for the streets to say what you really want to say, because people in democratic countries don t understand, why aren t you fighting against your regime? it s impossible, the price is too high. the price is 18, ten, 15 years injail. thousands of people had to flee the country because of repressions, but they continue the fight. i suppose you face a big strategic decision now for yourself and the whole anti lukashenko opposition movement. how do you respond to what putin has done in ukraine? because his message is quite clear he will use all the force necessary to enforce his vision of a greater russia, which clearly includes control of ukraine and clearly includes control, ultimate control, of your country, belarus, as well. so is your message to your people in belarus that you now are fighting for a belarus that will break free of moscow s
hundreds more were arrested and rounded up. it is very easy to understand, isn t it, why so many belarusians now are too frightened to make a stand in public? i think it s difficult for people from democratic countries to understand the level of fear in dictatorships, because you are scared to say a word. you are scared to go for the streets to say what you really want to say, because people in democratic countries don t understand, why aren t you fighting against your regime? it s impossible, the price is too high. the price is 18, ten, 15 years injail. thousands of people had to flee the country because of repressions, but they continue the fight. i suppose you face a big strategic decision now for yourself and the whole anti lukashenko opposition movement. how do you respond to what putin has done in ukraine? because his message is quite clear he will use all the force necessary to enforce his vision of a greater russia, which clearly includes control