Today in Vienna, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the Minister for European and International Affairs of Austria, Alexander Schallenberg.
During the meeting, the leader emphasized the situation with Belarusian political prisoners and informed the minister about those who are being kept incommunicado by the regime. The politicians discussed possible ways to hold the regime accountable at the international level. In addition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the minister to appoint a special envoy for Belarus to work with the democratic forces.
Issues related to the legalization of stay were also addressed. Mr. Schallenberg informed Ms. Tsikhanouskaya that Austria will now recognize expired Belarusian passports as valid. Also, there’s no need to renounce Belarusian citizenship to obtain an alien passport. The parties agreed to develop instructions for the legalization of stay for Belarusians in Austria.
At the end of the meeting, the Belarusian leader urged Austria to abstain from recognizing the parliamentary “election” in Belarus.
