Zelensky: “Why should Russia decide how people in Belarus should live?”

In an interview with El Pais, Volodymyr Zelensky said that “Russia is not a subject of the civilized world, it is a terrorist organization” and expressed his fear that Belarus may suffer the same fate as Ukraine.

The war started because Russia does not recognize us an independent country, a European country. The same thing will happen in Belarus, where the people also want to be independent. Why should Russia decide how people in Belarus should live? Not every country has to go through this torment that we are experiencing because Russia will not make it easy for Belarus, Moldova or Georgia.

Zelensky called on the European Union leaders to show courage and not to drag out the process of Ukraine’s integration: “I do not want to say sooner or later because I believe it is already late.”

The fact that Zelensky spoke out about Belarus and put it on par with democratic Georgia and Moldova is particularly symbolic given that he has not yet responded, at least publicly, to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s call to cooperate with democratic Belarus.