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  • Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė

    August 30, 2022

    Yesterday, August 29, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya greeted Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė at her office in Vilnius.

    The Prime Minister spoke with the team of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office and representatives of the newly formed United Transitional Cabinet, who told her about the work of the Cabinet, as well as the democratic forces' campaigns in support of Ukraine.

    Following the common meeting, Ms. Šimonytė and Ms. Tsikhanouskaya held bilateral talks involving their advisors. The leaders discussed the situation in the Belarusian economy and the effects of sanctions, as well as the possibility of direct involvement of the Belarusian army in the war against Ukraine. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya stressed that Belarusian society strongly opposes the war and stands against the deployment of Belarusian troops, despite the regime's pressure and its anti-Ukrainian campaign. Democratic forces insist on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Belarus.

    Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told the Prime Minister about the trial against Belarusian entrepreneur Mikalai Autukhovich and the detention of singer Meriem Herasimenka for performing a song in Ukrainian. She also spoke about the preparation of the Peramoga plan and the Belarusian Hajun project, which involves up to 30 thousand people and collects information about the movements of the Russian and Belarusian troops. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also noted the importance of supporting the Belarusian media and human rights defenders.

    The leaders discussed the situation with Schengen visas. The national leader of democratic Belarus reinforced the need to continue issuing visas to Belarusians. At the same time, individual sanctions lists should be expanded to prevent security officials, officials and aides of the regime from traveling freely and earning money in the European Union as they used to. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya urged the Lithuanian side to pay attention to the Belarusian students, many of whom have problems with obtaining visas before the start of the school year. Lithuania is considering creating an interdepartmental group involving representatives of the Belarusian democratic forces to solve visa and migration issues.

    • Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commented on the meeting with Ingrida Šimonytė:

    “I thanked Ms. Šimonytė for Lithuania's support, as well as for its firm and consistent policy. For two years now, Lithuania has been welcoming Belarusian political refugees, the repressed, Belarusian companies and non-governmental organizations. Lithuania stands up for Belarusians in the international arena and works to punish the regime's henchmen. On the issue of visas, I explained why we should distinguish between the Belarusians and the regime. We should strengthen ties between the European Union and Belarus. At the same time, it is important to develop a mechanism to prevent the accomplices of the regime and supporters of the war from abusing Europe's openness”.

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