Tikhanovskaya refused to go to Armenia without personal protection

Belarusian oppositionist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has been in Vilnius since 2020, canceled a trip to Armenia due to the fact that the Lithuanian authorities lowered the status of her protection. This is reported by Delfi with reference to Tikhanovskaya's adviser Denis Kuchinsky.

"I can confirm that we had to make a difficult decision to cancel the long-planned first-ever visit to Armenia for the plenary session of Euronest (Eastern Partnership)… This is due to the decision to suspend the use of personal protection — the security service of the top officials of the state — abroad. We hoped that an exception would be made for high—risk countries, but, unfortunately, this did not happen," he said.

Tikhanovskaya's personal security has been transferred to the criminal police bureau by the leadership security service since the beginning of October. The first structure is responsible for the safety of government leaders, the second for the safety of individuals who, according to the authorities, may be in danger. In connection with these changes, the representative office of the Belarusian opposition announced the suspension of activities on October 8.

According to TASS, the protection of Tikhanovskaya, which, according to the previously applied scheme, was carried out around the clock, cost the Lithuanian budget about € 1 million per year.