Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya took part in the opening of the Council of Europe Summit held in Reykjavik. Her presence at the summit affirms that the Council of Europe recognizes Belarus’ democratic forces as legitimate representatives of the country. She held sideline discussions with the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, Head of the European Council, Charles Michel, Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda, President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billström, and Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović. Leaders from 46 countries are attending the summit.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met for the first time with the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield. They discussed actions to prevent the Lukashenka regime from becoming a member of the Security Council. They also talked about united actions during the UN General Assembly, including organizing a dedicated discussion on the regime’s involvement in the forcible displacement of Ukrainian children from occupied territories and the threat of nuclear weapons being stationed in Belarus.
The summit will mostly focus on the situation in Ukraine. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya suggested that the final acts of the summit address the Belarusian issue and reinforce support for the Contact Group on Belarus. This would be the first step towards Belarus joining the Council of Europe. During the meetings, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed preventing the stationing of nuclear weapons, the forcible displacement of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Belarus and Lukashenka’s involvement in it, as well as the threat to Belarusian independence.
