Belarusian Olympian enters Polish embassy in Tokyo after Poland offers asylum

Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya today entered the Polish embassy in Tokyo and has reportedly applied for political asylum. Poland has publicly offered her help following attempts by Belarus to force her to return home after she criticised the country’s athletics’ officials.

Tsimanouskaya yesterday sought police protection at the airport in Toyko, saying that she was being returned to Belarus against her will. She had previously complained on social media about being entered at the last minute into a race she had not prepared for.

The sprinter was “frightened” for her own and her family’s safety, the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation told BBC News. In response, Polish deputy foreign minister Marcin Przydacz announced that his government was willing to offer Tsimanouskaya a humanitarian visa to come to Poland.

Today, at 5 p.m. local time, the athlete was pictured pulling up in front of the Polish embassy in Tokyo in an unmarked van, reports Reuters. She was greeted by two officials and taken into the building.

Tsimanouskaya has applied for political asylum in Poland, according to Polish broadcaster TVN, citing Belarusian opposition sources. Przydacz later confirmed to Onet that the athlete is currently at the embassy and has been issued with a “humanitarian visa and an opportunity for sporting development in Poland”

Reuters reports that Tsimanouskaya also applied for asylum in Japan. The Japanese government’s spokesman, Katsunobu Kato, said they understood she had “expressed a will to seek asylum”. “We will continue closely cooperating with relevant organisations and will take appropriate measures,” he added, quoted by AFP.

The International Olympic Committee said the athlete had “assured us that she feels safe and secure” and that they would be “giving her support in [whatever] decision she wants to pursue”.

Timanovskaya had been due to compete in the women’s 200 metre heats at the Olympics today. However, at the last minute, she was also entered into Thursday’s 400 metre relay event, which she claims was done without consulting her.

She says that, after she criticised the decision in an Instagram post, Belarusian officials came to her room and gave her an hour to pack her bags before being taken to the airport. The Belarusian Olympic Committee claims she was withdrawn from the games on doctor’s advice about her “emotional, psychological state”.

Poland has extended various forms of aid and protection to Belarusians fleeing their home country, including funding for NGOs, scholarships for students, and a programme to help Belarusian professionals and businesses seeking to move to Poland. It has given asylum to hundreds of Belarusian refugees.

The Polish government has also given strong backing to the Belarusian democratic opposition, whose exiled leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has made two visits to Warsaw to meet with Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.

The Belarusian authorities and their Russian allies have in response criticised Warsaw for, in the words of the Kremlin, “openly interfering in the domestic affairs of Belarus” in violation of the “universally accepted norms of international law”.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.