{"id":583148,"date":"2026-09-29T17:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=583148"},"modified":"2026-09-29T18:52:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T15:52:55","slug":"tsikhanouskaya-urges-eu-to-maintain-sanctions-dictators-understand-only-the-language-of-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/tsikhanouskaya-urges-eu-to-maintain-sanctions-dictators-understand-only-the-language-of-strength","title":{"rendered":"Tsikhanouskaya Urges EU to Maintain Sanctions: Dictators Understand Only the Language of Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya<\/b> addressed the European Parliament on September 29 at the second EU Parliamentary Democracy Forum, organized by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola<\/b>. The forum brings together members of national parliaments, representatives of civil society and international organizations, Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In her speech, Tsikhanouskaya discussed threats to democracy, foreign interference and disinformation, the role of civil society, and support for Ukraine and Belarus\u2019s democratic forces.<\/p>\n

The leader of Belarus\u2019s democratic forces called on European countries to maintain sanctions against Russia and the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/b>, and to continue supporting Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that sometimes there is a temptation to make deals with dictators\u2014Putin, Lukashenka and others. But dictators see weakness as an invitation. We must have no illusions. Dictators understand only the language of strength. And democracies must be ready to show their teeth.<\/i><\/p>\n

We must maintain sanctions against Russia and Lukashenka. But at the same time, we must strengthen society. Military strength alone is not enough. We need people who are ready to defend their values,\u201d<\/em> Tsikhanouskaya said.<\/p>\n

Tsikhanouskaya urged European democracies not to take freedom for granted and to continue strengthening civil society and democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addressed the European Parliament on September 29 at the second EU Parliamentary Democracy Forum, organized by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The forum brings together members of national parliaments, representatives of civil society and international organizations, Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office reported. In her speech, Tsikhanouskaya discussed threats to democracy, foreign interference and disinformation, the role […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":583147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6abbdedb05926.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Tsikhanouskaya Urges EU to Maintain Sanctions: Dictators Understand Only the Language of Strength"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[143118,143172],"class_list":["post-583148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-svetlana-tihanovskaja"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583149,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583148\/revisions\/583149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}