Warsaw, January 18, 2026 – The Europe Today: Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and her team are set to leave Lithuania, where she has lived in exile since 2020, and relocate to neighboring Poland, members of her entourage and media reports said.
The move follows Lithuania’s decision last year to lower Tikhanovskaya’s security status, a step that reportedly unsettled her team and raised concerns about their long-term safety and reception in the Baltic country. Tikhanovskaya has cited increased threats from Belarusian security services since the downgrade in October.
Tikhanovskaya emerged as the main challenger to President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election, which the opposition maintains she won. The authorities responded to mass protests with a sweeping crackdown, arresting thousands and forcing tens of thousands of Belarusians into exile.
Many opposition figures fled to neighboring Poland and Lithuania, with Vilnius becoming the primary base for Tikhanovskaya and her team. However, several members of her entourage and a source in Poland’s Foreign Ministry said she is expected to move to Warsaw in the near future.
Her aide, Denis Kuchinsky, told journalists that Tikhanovskaya’s husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky—who was released from prison last year—is currently in the United States for security reasons.
Earlier this week, Tikhanovskaya met Polish President Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw, signaling closer engagement with Polish authorities ahead of the relocation.
The announcement of her move comes amid broader scrutiny in Lithuania of high-profile opposition figures from neighboring countries. Earlier this month, Lithuanian authorities said they would review the residence permit of Russian opposition activist Leonid Volkov, a close ally of the late Alexei Navalny, following the leak of private messages. Volkov is wanted in Russia on multiple charges, including for his criticism of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus has been ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, and international rights groups continue to accuse his government of widespread repression of political opponents and dissent.
