During his working visit to Italy, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Diplomatic Advisor, Dzianis Kuchynski, met with representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, and the country’s Parliament. With Italian politicians, he discussed strengthening support for Belarusians, Italy’s cooperation with the democratic forces of Belarus, and other issues.
During his meetings with the Chief of the Foreign Minister’s Cabinet, Francesco Genuardi; Deputy Political Director and Director for Security, Alessandro Azzoni; as well as the Prime Minister’s Diplomatic Advisor, Fabrizio Saggio, Dzianis Kuchynski raised the following issues:
📌 Holding the regime’s collaborators accountable for human rights violations and involvement in the war in Ukraine;
📌 Non-recognition of the results of the so-called 2025 election;
📌 Cooperation with Belarus’ democratic forces during Italy’s G7 Presidency.
Dzianis Kuchynski emphasized Italy’s key role in supporting Belarus and thanked Italy for issuing visas to Belarusians, noting that Italy ranks second in the number of visas issued to Belarusian citizens.
Mr. Kuchynski also met with members of the Parliament, including former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Casini, former Foreign Minister, Giulio Terzi, and the leaders of the group “For a Democratic Belarus”, Filippo Sensi and Lia Quartapelle, to discuss:
📌 The activities of the group “For a Democratic Belarus” in Italy and plans to hold a meeting of the Alliance in Rome;
📌 Efforts to release political prisoners, particularly discussing the condition of Maryia Kalesnikava.
Remarkably, during the plenary session in the Senate, Giulio Terzi and Filippo Sensi expressed support for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and emphasized Maryia Kalesnikava’s situation.
At the end of the visit, Dzianis Kuchynski and Yulia Yukhno met with the Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of the Interior of Italy, Marco Villani. The parties discussed:
📌 Legalization of stay. The Ministry of the Interior will conduct consultations with the Belarusian diaspora to address the issues faced by Belarusians.
Dzianis Kuchynski: “I am truly grateful to my Italian colleagues and friends of democratic Belarus, especially for issuing more than 30,000 visas last year. It was important to hear that Italy will continue to support our democratic aspirations and that its policy vis-a-vis the regime will remain unchanged. Special thanks go to the diaspora, especially Yulia Yukhno, for helping with the legalization of stay issues and supporting Belarusians in Italy”.
