VILNIUS: The people of Belarus will not allow President Alexander Lukashenko to treat them as before and he will have to leave sooner or later, his main opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told Reuters in an interview.

She also said she was receiving a lot of calls from international leaders, including Britain and Germany, and that all she was asking them for was to support the Belarusian public and respect the country's sovereignty.

Tsikhanouskaya said she felt safe in neighbouring Lithuania and that she had bodyguards around her, but declined to comment further on her security.