Spotlight of the Regions
– The Office team released the third episode of the Spotlight of the Regions program. The episode covers how the same well-known problems remain in a new-built house in the town Pryluki and how the housing and communal services neglect them. The episode features a special appearance by activist Anton Matolka.
– Another coverage by the Spotlight of the Regions was released: since 2015, residents of the Seilavichy agro town of the Nyasvizh district have been unable to connect their houses to the water mains.
International work
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya made a working visit to Munich. She met with the President of the Bavarian Parliament and urged to launch a rehabilitation program for people imprisoned on political grounds.
– Ms. Tsikhanouskaya paid a working visit to Poland, where she had a meeting with President Andrzej Duda and took part in the Summit for Democracy held by US President Joe Biden. Read the speech text or watch the recording.
– In Warsaw, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s held numerous meetings with the representatives of the democratic forces – Pavel Latushka and the National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) team, members of the Coordination Council and Viktar Babaryka’s team, as well as ByPol members, the OST economic group, the Center of Belarusian Solidarity and A Country to Live In activists.
– In the evening of December 12, the Belarusian democratic forces held a number of high-level meetings with EU leadership at the EU Council and the European Commission Brussels headquarters.
- First, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The meeting outcome was the allocation of additional €30 million to support civil society. Previously, von der Leyen had announced to Tsikhanouskaya that the EU had approved its €3 billion worth Comprehensive Plan of economic support for democratic Belarus.
- Next, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya held a meeting with the EU High Representative Josep Borrell and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. They discussed the format of Belarusian civil society participation in the Eastern Partnership and the prospects for the Belarus-EU relations.
- Finally, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Pavel Latushka and the NAM team, representatives of the Coordination Council and Viktar Babaryka’s team, as well as the representatives of the Viasna Human Rights Center, media, business communities, and the diaspora held a general meeting with the EU leadership and foreign ministers of 12 countries. To read what both the democratic forces and EU representatives said and learn the results, follow the link.
Mutual assistance and support
– The Volnyja Pashtouki (Freedom Postcards) initiative continues the marathon of tasks of solidarity with political prisoners published in their Christmas Advent calendar. You can join too – download the calendar in four languages here.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her Senior Advisor Franak Viacorka held a call with the local community activists to explain the democratic forces’ strategy for the “referendum” and answer questions from Belarusians.
– Volnyja Pashtouki take part in a joint campaign with Amnesty International and the Belarusian Council for Culture to support the 17-year-old political prisoner Mikita Zalatarou. The project’s team of illustrators drew new postcards in support of Mikita.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya joined blogger and economist Siarhei Chaly for his Youtube live stream and gave an on-air interview to Euroradio’s Zmicier Lukashuk.
