During the working visit to Portugal, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with Belarusians. Officially about 700 Belarusians have residence permits in Portugal, but this figure may be much higher: many Belarusians who were in Ukraine before the war are relocating to Portugal.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya called on Belarusians in Portugal to keep Belarus on the agenda, told about her meetings with government officials and agreements on practical issues: legalization and opening of bank accounts (since the beginning of the war, many Belarusians have been denied that). “We are now gathering specific names and a list of problems and then we will hand them over to the authorities to help solve it”, said the national leader of Belarus.
Representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora also joined the rally. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya expressed support and solidarity with Ukraine. “Today you have taken a very important step towards membership in the European Union. And I congratulate you on this. You paid a lot for it and, unfortunately, continue to pay with the lives of your fellow citizens. This is very painful”.
