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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo by JindÅ™ich Nosek (NoJin) –

Top 10 Fascinating facts about Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was a political unknown just one year ago. Today, she has become the leader of the biggest protest movement in Belarus since the country gained independence. The wave of action she led has been  by the European Parliament, and she has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as well.

“I can do everything. I can do it. I already proved it to the whole world. I’m not afraid. You think I can’t take a leadership position? ” she said in a DW interview ahead of , which is observed annually on March 8.

1. Tsikhanouskaya emerged in 2020 as the face of the opposition

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.  Photo by Estonian Foreign Ministry –

Tsikhanouskaya emerged in 2020 as the face of the opposition to longtime authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and subsequently as the 

 In May, when her husband Sergei Tsikhanousky, a well-known blogger and democracy activist, was barred from challenging Lukashenko for the presidency and arrested, she ran instead.

2.  The strongman President did not take Tsikhanousky as an opponent

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya sits for an interview with Igor Tsikhanenka at Voice of America headquarters in Washington. Photo by Voice of America –

, who had been in office since 1994, did not take her seriously as an opponent and claimed publicly that “a woman can’t be a president.” He attempted to demean her experience as a stay-at-home parent: “She just cooked a tasty cutlet, may be fed the children, and the cutlet smelled nice.”

3. Tsikhanouskaya’s to hit back at institutionalized misogyny struck a chord

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya . Photo unattributed –

But Tsikhanouskaya’s determination to hit back at institutionalized misogyny struck a chord with millions of women in Belarus and abroad. Asked about Lukashenko’s insults, she spoke of how he mocked “that I’m a housewife, I belong in the kitchen. He was trying to make fun of me,” she said in a DW interview. But Tsikhanouskaya refused to even acknowledge the premise of his derision.

 “I was never offended by that because it is what it is. I was a housewife for several reasons. That’s true. Yes. If he wanted to insult me, he didn’t succeed. It’s the truth. What should I be ashamed of?”

4. It was beyond Lukashenko’s imagination that a woman could rule the country

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo unattributed –

It may be beyond Lukashenko’s imagination that a woman could rule the country. But the opposition leader does not doubt that her country disagrees with his sexist rhetoric about a woman taking over the office of president.

 “Yes, I’m more than convinced that it’s possible. Because my allies and I, and all Belarusian women who took to the streets have proven their resilience, their strong character. So Belarusians won’t have any doubts that a woman can become the future president of Belarus.”

5. The year 2020 marked a turning point for Belarusian women

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo unattributed –

2020 marked a turning point in many ways for the former Soviet republic — and especially for Belarusian women. Lukashenko’s security forces initially spared women, but that changed once they became the driving force during democratic protests.

 Images and reports emerged of women — from teenagers to grandmothers — being . Several  and driven into exile.

6. Tsikhanouskaya said it was “an impulse of the heart” that propelled millions of Belarusian women

After her meeting with @JakeSullivan46 today, @Tsihanouskaya tells @GolosAmeriki she asked the @WHNSC head “to supply more support for civil society” in #Belarus. Photo by Steve Herman –

Tsikhanouskaya said it was “an impulse of the heart” that propelled millions of Belarusian women to protest the electoral fraud. “Going out against violence — it was like an instinct. When we saw how many we were, we started being proud of ourselves. ‘Here I am, I did it.’ The inner strength awoke.” 

7. Tsikhanouskaya described her remarkable ascent to leadership

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Alexander Schallenberg. Photo unattributed –

Tsikhanouskaya described her remarkable ascent to leadership as that of having no choice. “The fear was always there: that you end up in prison, what would happen to your children then? Every morning you live with a feeling of fear.

It doesn’t mean that I have overcome my fear. It means that you do something despite your fear because there is no other way.”

Tsikhanouskaya and her children were put under immense pressure and were forced to flee the country. She has been  since the election, from where she keeps on fighting for democracy.

8. Tsikhanouskaya became her country’s representative on the international stage

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addresses MEPs. Photo unattributed –

The European Union and the United States have not recognized Lukashenko’s claim that he won the election. Meanwhile, Tsikhanouskaya had become her country’s representative on the international stage. Several world leaders have met with her — among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

9. Tsikhanouskaya described the longtime leader, Merkel as “extremely friendly”

Candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo by Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News –

Tsikhanouskaya met with Merkel in Berlin in October and described the longtime leader as “extremely friendly” during the conversation. “It was obvious that she has a sense of empathy, that she understands our pain, that she would like to help us.” 

The opposition leader said that the 30-minute meeting focused on  between demonstrators and Belarusian authorities. “She’s so straightforward,” Tsikhanouskaya said of the longtime chancellor.

Merkel shows “absolutely no arrogance and there’s a sense of warmth coming from her.

 That doesn’t contradict the notion of the strong woman she is known to be … And it doesn’t take tough talk to understand that she is a strong leader.”

Yet like the German leader, who has famously said she does not view herself as a feminist, Tsikhanouskaya said the term does not particularly apply to her, either. She emphasized her recent actions as instead being out of circumstance and necessity after her husband’s arrest: “I wouldn’t consider myself a feminist,” she told DW.

10. Tsikhanouskaya was an unknown stay-at-home mom

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (right) met with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Helsinki. Photo by Lauri Heikkinen /Prime Minister’s Office Finland –

Just a year ago, she was an unknown stay-at-home mom; now she has united a democratic movement. W, the Belarusian leader talks about courage and why she doesn’t see herself as a feminist. 

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskhaya, Maria Kolesnikova, and Veronika Tsepkalo were announced as the winners to recognize their fight for “freedom, democracy, and human rights” in Belarus. The prize was awarded in Aachen on Friday.