[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 140 (Thursday, August 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                BELARUS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in early 2011, I had one of the more 
unusual experiences of my Senate career. I traveled back in time, from 
a free and democratic Lithuania to a closed and totalitarian Belarus. 
The trip was less than 3 hours, but it took me back to a dark past.
  You see, Belarus is the last dictatorship in Europe. But like many 
dictatorships, it claims to be a democracy. In December 2010, it held 
what was billed as a Presidential election. The victor in that rigged 
contest was a heavy by the name of Alexander Lukashenko. His first act, 
after seizing the Presidency, was to jail all of those who were bold 
enough to run against him.
  Months later, I drove from Vilnius to Minsk to meet with the family 
members of those jailed candidates, who had been arrested by Belarus 
security services still called the KGB. Mind you, the original KGB was 
dissolved more than three decades ago. That tells you all you need to 
know about how much the Belarusian Government has evolved since the 
fall of the Soviet Union. My meeting with those family members was 
sobering, and it is an encounter I will never forget.
  Fortunately, over time, we were able to see the release of all these 
brave Belarusians, but not because Alexander Lukashenko had a sudden 
change of heart. He is still the same authoritarian thug he has always 
been. The world was reminded of that a year ago, when another sham 
election was held in Belarus. True to form, Lukashenko was reelected in 
that rigged contest. And once again, he began jailing those who had 
opposed him.
  When one leading candidate, social media personality Sergei 
Tikhanovsky, was arbitrarily jailed, his wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya 
stepped in to run in his place. She likely won the ensuing election, 
although we will never know for certain. The stolen electoral process 
that unfolded scared her into fleeing for safety in neighboring 
Lithuania.
  Last month, Ms. Tikhanovskaya traveled to Washington, DC, to seek 
support for the Belarussian peoples' fight for freedom from tyranny. I 
was proud to meet with her, along with Senators Shaheen and Sullivan. 
And I was glad to see President Biden met with her as well. Svetlana 
Tikhanovskaya is a brave patriot carrying the torch of democracy for 
all the people of Belarus.
  I thought of her, and other Belarussian patriots, as I watched the 
Olympics this week. In Tokyo, another brave Belarussian woman, sprinter 
Krystsina Tisimansouskaya, dared to publicly criticize Belarussian 
Olympic officials, a group from Lukashenko's ruling party. For her 
audacity, Lukashenko ordered the 24-year-old sprinter to return to 
Belarus immediately, right before she was scheduled to run in the 
women's 200-meter race on Monday.
  If she had obliged, there is a very good chance she would be locked 
up in a Belarusian jail at this very moment, along with so many other 
political prisoners. But Krystsina Tisimansouskaya said no. At the 
Tokyo airport, before she could be forced onto a plane home, she sought 
protection from Japanese police. She also appealed to the International 
Olympic Committee for help. Her appeals worked. The Polish Government 
granted her a humanitarian visa. And Slovenia and the Czech Republic 
said she was welcome in their countries, too.
  Ten years since my trip to Belarus, I am still moved by the courage 
of so many Belarusians like Ms. Tisimansouskaya, Ms. Tikhanovskaya, and 
the thousands upon thousands who have peacefully protested for a better 
future. These heroic leaders are still trapped in a dark past thanks to 
the same ruthless dictator who continues to cling onto power.
  They are willing to risk so much for a chance at freedom. They are 
unafraid to stand up to despots and defend democracy. And they are an 
inspiration to a world that needs it. I want them to know we see them, 
and America stands with them in their efforts to create a better and 
truly democratic Belarus.

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