Russia does not always need to invade a country to take control of it. In Belarus, it found a dictator willing to trade our sovereignty for his own survival. Russian troops are stationed on our soil. Our territory has been used to attack Ukraine. Belarusians who stand up to the dictatorship are locked in prisons and penal colonies. Ukraine has a democratically elected government defending its independence alongside its people. In Belarus, the man controlling the state opened the door to Moscow and imprisoned those who challenged him. A European country’s sovereignty was traded for one man’s grip on power. Belarusians never agreed to that bargain. Our struggle for democracy is also a struggle for independence. Europe must support those fighting for a free Belarus and refuse to accept Russian control over our country as permanent. Belarus was never Lukashenka’s to sell.