Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya left her home country on threat of detention, and Belarus officials facilitated her departure, Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius said.
Tikhanouskaya, who has Lithuanian visa and can stay in a Baltic stay for up to a year and said on Tuesday she had fled abroad for the sake of her children, after two nights of clashes following the contested re-election of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.
There had been concern about Tikhanouskaya's whereabouts after her campaign team said on Monday they had been unable to reach her by phone hours after she was known to have left a meeting with central election commission officials.
"She apparently faced certain pressure and did not have much choice but to leave the country," Linkevicius told a news conference.
"Apparently, the other choice was not compatible with freedom, so she needed to take the offered possibility to leave the country, and used it", said Linkevicius.
Tikhanouskaya was given a one-year visa and a place to stay in Lithuania, which is taking care of her safety, Linkevicius said.
Linkevicius continued, "Together with the lawyer, she (Tikhanouskaya) visited the electoral committee to submit a complaint about counts of the votes and she stayed for a very long time, a lawyer left the building but she stayed longer and it lasted around seven hours totally, so we didn't know where she is and what she was doing and then I informed that I cannot reach her and I cannot find her. So all night was kind of tension, then I understand that she had not that many options, just to leave the country. She has our national visa and it was her decision to leave to Lithuania, so the authorities didn't prevent this from happening and in the night time, already in the morning hours, she arrived in Lithuania. She is in Lithuania and she is safe."
Both she and the Belarusian authorities said she had not been forced to leave.
At least one person died as police clashed with protesters on Monday after the opposition accused Lukashenko of rigging the vote amid widespread criticism from Western leaders.
