Belarus: Tikhanovskaya sees Johnson, exalts support for GB

(ANSA) - LONDON, AUGUST 03 - The exponent of the Belarusian opposition in exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was today welcomed with honors as a leader in Downing Street by Boris Johnson, two weeks after meeting the American President Joe Biden at the White House, and received by the premier assurance of the UK government's full support for his cause. "We are definitely on your side" in the battle against President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Johnson told reporters, recalling - against the backdrop of the events of the last few hours relating to the discovery of the body of the Belarusian dissident Vitaly Shishov in Kiev or the flight from the Tokyo Olympics to asylum politician in Poland by athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya - how London was "in the front row"in recent sanctions against the Minsk "regime".

    "We are committed to supporting human rights and civil society" in Belarus, Prime Minister Tory insisted in a cordial face to face with Tikhanovskaya, flanked by a small delegation in London and encouraged by a support rally.

    The opponent for her part emphasized the importance of the "support of one of the most powerful countries in the world" such as Great Britain. Speaking previously to the BBC, she said she was "sure" of the prospect of concrete aid from the government of London, reiterating that she considered herself at risk in person and could "disappear at any moment"; and comparing the methods of the "Lukashenko regime" to those of "Stalin" in relation to the Tsimanouskaya case, with "the use of sport as a propaganda weapon".

   (HANDLE).