Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya on Monday urged French President Emmanuel Macron to mediate in the political crisis in her homeland, saying he could involve Russia in opening a dialogue.

Tikhanovskaya told AFP the EU should expand planned sanctions to include businesses that support the authoritarian government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

“The protests are not going to stop,” she said in an interview in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius where she fled after running against Lukashenko in an election on August 9.