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 control and will, like the zelensky government in ukraine, look westward to membership of the eu, maybe of nato? what is your vision for belarus? first of all, we have to return democracy in our country and then ask people, what do you want? because before the war started, there were polls where people responded that about 60% of people wanted a good relationship with russia, and the same 60% wanted a good relationship with the european union. we are really peaceful people. but the new generation is, of course, pro democratic, the new generation know how we can live if we have a normal government.
protests in the summer of 2020, that feeling that lukashenko s grip on power may be weakened, he is still there. there are, according to the un s latest human rights report on belarus, roughly 1,000 political prisoners still being held, including your own husband. and your movement basically has gone completely underground. the street protests are almost wiped out. most of your key leaders are either in exile or in prison. lukashenko seems to have won. lukashenko didn t win. every day, he knows that he is not recognised by his people. he s not recognised by international society. by democratic leaders. and so i want to ask the same
you know, no powerful sanctions. nothing happened. of course he feels impunity. of course he understands that he can do everything. people are repressed in belarus. people are scared because every moment kgb people can enter yourflat and kidnap yourfather, brother, or whoever and you can t do anything. are you allowed to speak to your husband at all right now? because he s been sentenced to 18 years in prison. political prisoners in belarus are isolated. they don t have opportunity to communicate with their relatives. we can communicate only through the lawyer, who visits my husband once a week. because, again, there are terrible reports of physical abuse and torture of people arrested, detained, and then imprisoned in belarus. can your husband tell you anything about the conditions he is currently imprisoned under? my husband is in solitary cell for more than one year already, and his physical condition is normal.
could be done. of course, we understand that the first sanctions, for example, have been imposed only ten months after the crackdown of peaceful people in belarus. but i am really glad that belarus is still on the agenda, on an international agenda, that our wonderful belarusians all over the world every day continue to speak about belarus, to tell people the truth, to tell the situation with our political prisoners, with lawlessness in our country, about torture and about repressions. but in a way, that s why i ask you about how you view the success of your campaign, because the truth is that after all of those street protests in the summer of 2020, that feeling that lukashenko s
them by military force. so there s a new, stark choice facing your people. which way will they go? i think people now understand that there is a possibility of the second iron curtain between russia and western countries, and the question is where belarus will be. which side of it you will be on? yes. and isn t it quite plain that putin will use all military means necessary in belarus to ensure you are on his side of the curtain? of course, it could be his intention, but we always forget about people. country is notjust government, and it s notjust army, it s about people. and if people don t want to be on that side of the iron curtain,