In a letter to the European Commission, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke about the COVID-19 situation in Belarus. Lukashenka ignored the WHO recommendations and promoted COIVID-dissidence, and “his regime decided to hide the real scale of the disaster”. Instead of accurate information about the dangers of coronavirus in the state media and on television, people heard about the risks of masks and “psychosis”.
Based on the regional data, Belarusian experts concluded that the number of deaths from coronavirus in Belarus exceeds the official statistics by at least ten times. And in the UN report, an abnormal peak in mortality was recorded from April to June 2020 (5.6 thousand people more than in the same period in 2019), which the Ministry of Health did not explain. 110 medical workers have died from coronavirus in Belarus. At the same time, there is now a practice of deliberately infecting imprisoned protesters with coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health has not yet published a plan for a COVID-19 vaccine, despite its claims about the Sputnik V vaccine. Therefore, Tsikhanouskaya urged the EU to help with a nationwide vaccination campaign for all adults in Belarus. This campaign can be implemented through a third party — the United Nations Development Programme. Belarusians should have access to internationally approved vaccines to help overcome the crisis and save thousands of lives.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the EU not to provide funds directly to the Lukashenka regime. If implemented, it is extremely important that such a program be managed strictly by a third party (e.g., UNDP) under international control. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's team is willing to help at all stages of the initiative.
The text of the letter is attached:
«Dear President von der Leyen,
Dear Commissioner Varhelyi,
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 situation in Belarus has significantly deteriorated, and now Belarusians need the help of the international community. Aliaksandr Lukashenka has ignored the recommendations of the WHO, deliberately misled people on the gravity of the disease, provided unsubstantiated and even absurd recommendations on preventing and treating it, organized mass political events dismissing the obvious risks to attendees, and has not adopted adequate measures to prevent the spread of the infection. This also reflected in the level of funding and protection for medical personnel who have courageously fought with the disease. This has led to disastrous consequences.
It is not accidental that Belarusian health statistics are widely believed to be fraudulent. The scale of health data falsification can be evaluated by analyzing the mortality data Belarusian health authorities submitted to the UN. Between April and June 2020, 5,6 thousand more people died than in the respective period of 2019, which shows an abnormal peak in mortality which Belarusian officials did not explain. In addition, the mortality rate among medical workers includes 110 medical professionals who died because of COVID. Remarkably, the data submitted to the UN was not available to Belarusians internally, as the regime attempted to hide the actual scale of the catastrophe resulting from its incompetent and reckelss policy. Data revealed by regional registries have allowed a number of Belarusian experts to conclude that Belarus would have at least ten times more deaths from COVID-19 than its official statistics indicate.
Moreover, during the peaceful protests against fraudulent presidential elections of August 9, 2020, that still continue in Belarus, more than 32 thousand people have been arrested. Some of the arrested contracted the coronavirus during detention and accused authorities of deliberately spreading the coronavirus by rotating infected detainees through cells packed with people. This is an inhumane practice of using this dangerous disease as a weapon against political opponents arrested for using their constitutional rights.
In this regard, we ask you to support the Belarusian people in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Belarusian authorities are yet to publish a roll-out plan for such vaccines in Belarus. Considering this fact and the scale of the humanitarian crisis, we ask the EU to support a full-fledged country-wide vaccination campaign. This campaign can be implemented through a third party such as the United Nations Development Programme. We believe that Belarusians must have access to internationally approved vaccines which can help to solve the crisis and save thousands of lives.
We also reiterate our call to the EU to refrain from providing funds to Lukashenka’s regime directly. It’s crucial that such a program if implemented is strictly managed by a third party under international control. My team and I would be prepared to assist at all stages of this initiative.
Sincerely,
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
Leader of democratic Belarus».
