A new wave of pandemic – and vaccination
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held a call with medics and Belarusian Medical Solidarity Foundation leadership. Medics told how disastrously the pandemic is developing in Belarus and called on the people of Belarus to wear masks and take any vaccine available in the country. They also discussed how to enable Belarusians to get other vaccines. For example, it is already possible to get a vaccine in Poland and Lithuania, but not everyone can travel to these countries to vaccinate.
– Senior Advisor to Ms. Tsikhanouskaya Franak Viacorka shared how, in March 2020, the regime refused to accept EU-approved COVID vaccines: “We negotiated vaccines both with COVAX and the European Commission. There was an opportunity to receive funding for the vaccines from the European Investment Bank. There were options to deliver them with the help of the UN, charities, or the church. The regime refused any help”.
– Vaccines for Belarusians and criminal prosecution of those who repress the people of Belarus: Valery Kavaleuski, Head of the Cabinet, paid a working visit to Warsaw and held consultations at the Polish Foreign Ministry and the International Policy Bureau in the Chancellery of the President.
Mutual assistance and support
– Ms. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held a call with local community activists. They discussed the announced referendum, possible developments, and the strategy.
– The leader of democratic Belarus took part in the opening of Imaguru Startup HUB that had earlier been shut down by the regime in Minsk. She spoke about how to support the IT sector now and facilitate its development in the new Belarus.
– The Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held “Khvalya” (eng. Wave) – a series of masterclasses. For the whole week, activists, volunteers, and initiative representatives learned to expose fake news and handle information. They also received hands-on tips for creating their media from scratch.
– The Volnyja Paštoŭki initiative made a guide on how to write letters to political prisoners.
– Volnyja Paštoŭki supported and sent postcards to those who joined the campaign of the “A Country to Live in” foundation, encouraging people to send flowers to mothers and other family members of political prisoners. Besides, the initiative printed a set of 12 postcards dedicated to a lost year in the life of political prisoner Anastasiya Mirontsava. All the donations go to vkletochku.org, a project that can help you send letters to political prisoners.
International Work
– Meeting with President Duda, dictator’s palace, Makei’s attempts to reach out to someone: Ms. Tsikhanouskaya explained the meaning of her recent international visits for Belarusians and shared news from ByPol – a union of the former Belarusian security officers – and the Workers’ Movement. Franak Viacorka told why Uladzimir Makei, head of Lukashenka’s MFA, failed to establish relations with other countries.
– Ms. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke at the opening of the International Legal Conference in Nuremberg, organized by the National Anti-Crisis Management of Pavel Latushka and dedicated to justice for the crimes of the regime.
– “The democratic forces have an understanding and the instruments for bringing the economy out of the crisis created by the regime”: Ales Aliakhnovich, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s Representative for Economics, shared his vision of the future of the Belarusian economy.
– Anatoli Liabedzka, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s Representative for the Constitutional Reform and Parliamentary Cooperation, held working meetings with Laima Andrikienė, PACE Vice-President and Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Seimas.
– Ms. Tsikhanouskaya will give opening remarks at Belarus Business Forum set to take place in Warsaw on October 27-28. The forum will be focused on assistance to those who had to flee Belarus and will provide a vision of how businesses will grow in the new Belarus.
– Ms. Tsikhanouskaya gave interviews on the situation in Belarus to Die WELT (Germany), Wiadoomosci (Poland), Deutschlandfunk (Germany), A Country to Live in, Belsat.
