海角大神

The tweet from @POTUS 鈥� President Joe Biden 鈥� at 12:34 p.m. Eastern time today came as a total surprise to the outside world.聽

鈥淚 was honored to meet with @Tsihanouskaya at the White House this morning,鈥澛爐he tweet said.聽鈥淭he United States stands with the people of Belarus in their quest for democracy and universal human rights.鈥�

@Tsihanouskaya refers to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the 38-year-old exiled leader of Belarus鈥檚 democracy movement, who ran against strongman Alexander Lukashenko in last August鈥檚 presidential election 鈥� widely seen as stolen. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya had spent all last week in Washington, meeting with top administration officials, members of Congress, and Belarusian-Americans.聽

But her requested meeting with President Biden hadn鈥檛 come through. In聽my interview with her聽last Wednesday, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya was clearly disappointed but said she understood, he鈥檚 a busy man. Still, she made clear that he could have made a larger point by meeting with her.聽

鈥淪ince the beginning of his presidency, Joe Biden has declared that now is the struggle between autocracy and democracy,鈥� she said.聽

Indeed, Mr. Biden regularly speaks of that stark choice, be it regarding China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, or many other regimes. He has said the battle between democracy and authoritarianism will define our century. He also promised, early in his tenure, to聽hold a Summit for Democracy,聽aimed at fighting corruption and authoritarianism, and advancing human rights.聽

Belarus may seem obscure 鈥� a former Soviet republic of 9.5 million people, ruthlessly run by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. But it鈥檚 a key buffer聽between east and west, Russia and Poland.聽

So Mr. Biden鈥檚 failure to meet with Ms. Tsikhanouskaya last week seemed a missed opportunity. When she left Washington for New York over the weekend, that seemed to be that. She was due to fly to San Francisco first thing today 鈥� but suddenly, there she was in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, shaking Mr. Biden鈥檚 hand.聽

鈥淭he schedule could accommodate this adjustment,鈥� Tsikhanouskaya foreign policy adviser Valery Kavaleuski said by email.聽

According to a senior Biden administration official, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya came back to Washington to see National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and the president 鈥渂riefly dropped by their meeting.鈥� (She had already met with Mr. Sullivan last week.)

The Biden-Tsikhanouskaya meeting was framed as a casual hello, not appearing on the president鈥檚 daily schedule and not taking place in the more formal Oval Office. But she got her handshake and her photo op, which will not be lost on Mr. Lukashenko or President Putin.聽

鈥淭hank you,聽@POTUS, for a powerful sign of solidarity with millions of fearless Belarusians who are peacefully fighting for their freedom,鈥澛爃er own tweet聽stated. 鈥淭oday, Belarus is on the frontline of the battle between democracy and autocracy. The world stands with us. Belarus will be a success story.鈥�