Belarusian oppositionist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya sent a letter to the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Gabrielus Landsbergis with a proposal to change the official name of Belarus from Baltarùsija to Belarusià.

This was reported in the official Telegram channel of Tikhanovskaya.

The current name of the country in Lithuanian sounds like Baltarùsija (Rùsija in Lithuanian means Russia), which, according to the opposition leader, "leads to a mistaken association with the state of Russia."

“On the part of Lithuania, this could become a sign of respect for the sovereignty of Belarus and support for the linguistic and cultural identity of the Belarusian people,” Tikhanovskaya said.

Her message also indicates that 24 European countries have already changed the official name of Belarus to close to the original used in the country.

The politician's initiative has already received a response from the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.

Thus, after the meeting with Tikhanovskaya, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Baltic State Gabrielus Landsbergis said that the Lithuanian authorities are ready, with the consent of the Belarusian side, to change the name of Belarus in the official circulation.

"If Belarus expresses such a wish, we will be happy to discuss this issue," Landsbergis was quoted by TASS as saying.

The minister also added that the current name "interprets Belarus as part of Russia."

"We have nothing against Russia"

It should be noted that the foreign policy agenda of the Belarusian opposition in relation to Russia looks quite contradictory.

For example, shortly after the presidential elections, in September 2020, in an interview with RBC, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said that "we have absolutely nothing against Russia."

So she commented on her intention to revise the agreements between Russia and Belarus after the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.

  • Protests in Minsk

  • Reuters

  • © Tut.By

“But we are always open, our coordinating council is always open to dialogue.

I am also open to dialogue with representatives of the Russian Federation, ”she said.

At the same time, earlier on the official website of Tikhanovskaya contained links to the so-called Reanimation Package of Reforms for Belarus.

The archive copy of this website in Belarusian included a section on the country's national security, which stated the need to withdraw from the alliance with Russia and the CSTO, the closure of Russian military bases in the country, as well as the prospect of joining the EU and NATO.

Earlier, the President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko stated that the Belarusian opposition had such plans.

In turn, the opposition's coordinating council called his accusations a deception.

“This issue is not on our agenda at all.

We regard Lukashenka’s statements as an attempt at manipulation and deception, ”Maria Kolesnikova, a representative of the organization, told Interfax.

Tikhanovskaya herself also denied the existence of such a program.

“From our website, which was created for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and for her election campaign, it could not lead to such links - I could not agree on this and did not hear.

The first time I heard about these proposals was from the officials who promoted this nonsense.

It couldn't be.

Because I have three points in my program.

And if something has ever appeared somewhere, it has nothing to do with me at all, ”Tikhanovskaya said in an interview with RBC.

At the same time, a copy of the section "Reanimation package of reforms for Belarus", which could be accessed from its website and which contained such items, is still available in the digital Internet archive of The Wayback Machine.

Later, in November 2020, against the background of a visit to Minsk by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Tikhanovskaya again announced her intention to revise agreements with Russia.

"Didn't bring anything new"

In early December, Tikhanovskaya noted that she was ready to lead Belarus in the "transition period."

She said that she intends to gather "the best experts and democratic forces so that Belarus approaches the new elections with the least shocks."

For this, a coordination council of the opposition and a cabinet of representatives in various spheres were created.

“We have already developed a concept for new elections, a draft constitutional reform to be carried out after Lukashenka’s resignation, a program of economic assistance to vulnerable groups, support for small and medium-sized businesses,” the politician said.

  • Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

  • AFP

  • © Joe Klamar

At the same time, she continued to call on the EU countries and the United States to introduce new sanctions against Belarus, including restrictions on working with state banks of the republic, as well as disconnecting the country from the international payment system SWIFT.

In the new year, 2021, Tikhanovskaya remained in the same positions - she opposed the holding of the 2021 World Hockey Championship in Minsk and called on the national hockey federations to boycott it.

In addition, she sent a letter to Svein Tore Holzeter, head of the Norwegian company Yara International, in which she asked to suspend or revise the contract with Belaruskali.

Talking about Tikhanovskaya's current proposal to rename Belarus, analysts call it "a fairly typical phenomenon for the politics of post-Soviet countries."

“For example, after 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated the need to change the international transliteration of Kiev in order to avoid similarities with the name of the capital in Russian.

This is also not new for Belarus, where since 1991 Belarusian nationalists have regularly shamed Russians for using the name “Belarus” rather than “Republic of Belarus”.

In this case, Tikhanovskaya did not bring anything new, "said Sergei Margulis, a RANEPA teacher, in an interview with RT.

According to him, now Tikhanovskaya is trying to please those who support her, in particular Lithuania and Poland.

“In the absence of real political successes, the Belarusian opposition continues to make increasingly insignificant and comical proposals at the international level to maintain attention to itself.

The protests in the country have significantly weakened, the positions of the current government have strengthened, the focus of attention of the world community has shifted to other events, for example, in the United States, so Tikhanovskaya can only put forward such proposals, ”Margulis stated.

He predicts that under the current conditions, one should hardly expect Tikhanovskaya to come to power.

“But at the same time, some part of the Belarusian society remains dissatisfied with the current government.

Therefore, it is still inappropriate to say that the protests are over and the opposition has been suppressed, ”the expert said.

In turn, Andrei Suzdaltsev, deputy dean of the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics at the Higher School of Economics, said in an interview with RT that Tikhanovskaya's statement should be viewed as a personal PR campaign, with the help of which she is trying to demonstrate herself as a "fighter for national interests."

“However, this step will not be able to radically change the situation, since the West has not succeeded in getting Lukashenka to be removed, and the sanctions that were imposed on Belarus are purely decorative.

I admit that Lithuania can announce the renaming and even adhere to the new name, but later the former name of Belarus will remain in the media and at the state level, ”the political scientist believes.

The analyst assesses the prospects of the Belarusian opposition as “uncertain”, since today some of those who supported Tikhanovskaya were disappointed in her.

“The protests in Belarus without their core have already taken on other forms.

And it is not yet very clear whether the opposition will be able to find a way to catch and lead the popular sentiment again, ”Suzdaltsev said.