Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Estonia’s Riigikogu (Parliament), Marko Mihkelson. The Head of the Representation of Democratic Belarus in Tallinn, Vital Malchanau, also attended the meeting.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya thanked Marko Mihkelson for his longstanding support for Belarus’s democratic forces, his consistent stance in defense of Belarus’s independence, his solidarity with political prisoners, and his support for Ukraine.
The meeting focused on five key issues:
- regional security and Belarus’s sovereignty. The parties discussed the growing Russian military presence in Belarus, the country’s militarization, and the threats this poses to neighboring states. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya stressed that Belarus must not become a bargaining chip in potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Any agreements with Russia must take Belarus’s sovereignty and independence into account;
- support for Ukraine. They discussed continued military, political, and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. The Belarusian side spoke about deepening cooperation between Belarus’s democratic forces and Ukrainian partners, as well as the work of the Democratic Belarus Mission in Kyiv, Belarusian volunteer fighters, and initiatives supporting Ukraine, including the project to supply the country with generators;
- the release of political prisoners. The discussion covered the need to secure the release of all political prisoners and put an end to new arrests and political persecution in Belarus. The parties also explored how European MPs could strengthen international efforts through political prisoner patronage and parliamentary diplomacy. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya called for maintaining international pressure on the regime for as long as repression continues in Belarus;
- support for Belarusians in Estonia. The two discussed the situation of the Belarusian community, residence and legal status issues, and the rights of Belarusians in exile. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged against equating Belarusians with the Lukashenka regime and called for the circumstances of Belarusian refugees to be taken into account when introducing restrictive measures;
- parliamentary cooperation. They discussed the continued work of the “For a Democratic Belarus” Group in the Riigikogu and the participation of Estonian MPs in international parliamentary initiatives supporting Belarus.
The sides also discussed the possibility of inviting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski to address the Riigikogu.
At the end of the meeting, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya emphasized that the security of Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states is directly interconnected, noting that lasting peace in the region requires preventing Belarus from losing its sovereignty and being further used by Russia for military purposes.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Without a free and independent Belarus, there can be no lasting security in our region. We must do everything possible to ensure that Belarus does not become a bargaining chip in negotiations to end the war. Any peace agreement must respect our country’s sovereignty. Belarus must be part of the solution, not part of Russia’s war machine”.
