Within the two-day visit, the National Leader of Belarus and Head of the United Transitional Cabinet met with the Estonian President Alar Karis, Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament Marko Mihkelson, Speaker of the Parliament Jüri Ratas, and the parliamentary group For Democratic Belarus. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya addressed the Parliament, visited the National Archives, laid flowers at the Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet occupation, and met with the rectors of Estonian universities and the Belarusian diaspora.
Here are the brief results of the visit:
- Following the meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the rectors of Estonian universities will consider admitting Belarusian students again, thus cancelling their previous decision to suspend admissions for Belarusians. They also agreed to hold events at the universities involving Belarusian students.
- At a plenary session of the Parliament, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya urged Estonian MPs to support Darya Losik and other political prisoners in Belarus, as well as simplify visa and migration policy for Belarusians while tightening sanctions against the regime's accomplices. She also called the MPs to distinguish between the regime and the people and support the European perspective for Belarus.
- At the meeting with Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya introduced Vitaly Malchanau as the envoy of democratic Belarus, who will represent the interests of Belarus in Estonia. Mr. Reinsalu and Ms. Tsikhanouskaya agreed to establish a working group on migration issues.
- Estonia will send a special representative to Vilnius to work with the democratic forces. At the same time, the country will abstain from appointing an ambassador to Minsk.
- With the Foreign Minister, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also discussed a potential Baltic-Belarusian forum and initiatives to hold the regime accountable for the hijacking of the aircraft, crimes against humanity, and complicity in the Russian military aggression, as well as block the regime's foreign assets. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya suggested restarting the OSCE Moscow Mechanism that was invoked for Belarus in 2020.
- At the meeting with Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of Estonian Parliament Marko Mihkelson, a multilateral meeting of the foreign affairs committees of the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was discussed.
- The members of the parliamentary group For Democratic Belarus agreed to take patronage over Belarusian political prisoners and invite representatives of all Estonian political factions to join the group.
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited the National Archives, where she was shown the documents and correspondence of the Estonian government and the mission of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (BNR) in the 1920s. The Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs handed Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya a copy of the document found on the recognition of Estonia's independence by the BNR Rada. She also laid flowers at the Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet occupation.
