Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya says she has declared herself the country’s “national leader” because authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka committed treason with his actions surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, RFERL reports.
“Lukashenka committed treason – he made our country a participant in the invasion of Ukraine,” she said in a video posted on Twitter on February 26.
“So I declared myself as the national leader of Belarus to protect the sovereignty & independence of our country, represent it in security negotiations & crisis management in the region.”
Although Lukashenka claims Belarusian troops have not joined in the conflict, Russia has used the territory of Belarus to launch deadly attacks on Ukraine this week, including the seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.