Columbia University in the City of New York

Harriman Institute

Events
Sergey Tihanovski's headshot. Image links to event page.

Date

March 9, 2026 | 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Location

Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room, 1219 International Affairs Building
420 W 118th Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10027, United States
From Prison to Geopolitics: Why Belarus Needs Realism, Not Romanticism

Reserve Your Seat

 

 

 

Registration REQUIRED by 12pm on March 8, 2026 in order to attend this event.

Please join the Program on U.S.-Russia Relations for a lecture by Sergey Tihanovski. Moderated by Elise Giuliano.

Sergey Tihanovski, Belarusian political activist and former political prisoner, reflects on his five years in prison following the mass protests in Belarus in 2020. Drawing on personal experience, he examines why large democratic movements sometimes fail, the role of strategy and geopolitics in political change, and what lessons Belarus’s struggle offers for the future of Eastern Europe and the global balance of power.

Sergey Tihanovski is a Belarusian political activist and former presidential candidate who was imprisoned in 2020 for opposing Alexander Lukashenko. He spent five years in solitary confinement, of which about 2.5 years were in an incommunicado regime. He was released in 2025 through U.S.-brokered diplomacy. He is not a member of any political parties or organizations. He pursues an independent political policy. He is 2020 Sakharov Prize laureate and recipient of the 2025 Magnitsky Human Rights Award as an outstanding opposition politician.

Event Video

Please email disability@columbia.edu to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.

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