Shadow Group Linked to Russian Plane Explosion Is Coming to D.C.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader of Belarus, is set to visit Washington, D.C. in coordination with the State Department later this month, three sources familiar with the trip tell The Daily Beast.

The visit of the former Soviet republic’s opposition leader is still in the planning stages, but is slated for the week of March 21 and is set to include meetings with Congress and the State Department, two Tsikhanouskaya advisers and a Democratic Senate aide told The Daily Beast.The visit is slated to last between the 21-27, and could be extended, Valery Kavaleuski, a foreign affairs representative for Belarus’ opposition, told The Daily Beast.

The planning of the trip comes as Belarusian opposition and activists have been ratcheting up their pressure campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belurian leader Alexander Lukashenko—also known as Europe’s “last dictator”—and the use of Belarusian territory as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine, despite domestic disapproval of the war.

Read more at The Daily Beast.