A Belarusian athlete exposes the breadth of Lukashenko’s dictatorship

Her fears must have deepened when Belarus Olympic officials met with her. A 19-minute segment of the conversation was recorded, leaked on Telegram and published by the news website Meduza, which said Ms. Tsimanouskaya was reduced to tears. “The following instructions have come in: You’re flying home today. Just let me finish and don’t rush to any conclusions. You’ve been asked something big: You come home, you don’t write anything anywhere, and you don’t make any statements,” said one of the officials, Belarusian Republican Track and Field Training Center deputy director Artur Shumak. National head coach Yuri Moisevich admonished her, “It’s totally out of control, you see. To calm things down, you just need to stop talking. You need to get off the air. Otherwise, you’ll just make things worse.” Mr. Moisevich then offers to fake the reasons for her departure from the Games. “We’ll say you’re injured and get out of this, and you’ll head home without any drama,” he said.