On April 7, during her visit to Madrid, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.
She spoke about the releases of political prisoners, as well as the challenges they face after their release or deportation from the country. She thanked Minister Albares for Spain’s €50,000 contribution to the International Humanitarian Fund — during the meeting, they agreed on a second contribution.
The sides also discussed the opening of the Mission of Democratic Belarus in Madrid. The official opening this year was confirmed, and Tania Marinich (Tatsiana Marynich) was nominated for the position of Head. The Mission’s activities in Madrid will focus not only on cooperation with Spain but also on work across the wider region.
They also discussed support for Ukraine. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya spoke about her bilateral meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and noted that the new dynamics in relations open additional opportunities for further cooperation and coordination of joint actions.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya expressed gratitude to Spain for recognizing expired Belarusian passports. They agreed to continue working on resolving issues related to apostilles and certificates of no criminal record.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “I am grateful to Minister José Manuel Albares for a very substantive and practical meeting. We discussed many important issues in our cooperation — and we will continue working to ensure they are all resolved”.
