On January 18, Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya held an online meeting with the EU ambassadors to the OSCE. Advisor for international affairs Franak Viacorka and representative of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for international affairs Valery Kavaleuski joined the discussion.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya suggested the OSCE undertake an inclusive dialogue to resolve the crisis in Belarus. The OSCE can create a contact platform and start with an expert round table with the participation of the EU, the democratic forces of Belarus and the Constitutional Court, as well as representatives of the Lukashenka regime. According to Tsikhanouskaya, the OSCE/ODIHR is a central organization that can help organize new free elections according to international standards and under international supervision. “We expect to hold the elections in 45 days, and we need help with this”, said Tsikhanouskaya.
OSCE Ambassadors, together with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed the implementation of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism and the creation of an international body to investigate the crimes of the Lukashenka regime. Tsikhanouskaya presented the audio recording of Nikolai Karpenkov about the creation of prison camps to the meeting participants and called on the OSCE participating States to join the international day of solidarity with Belarus on February 7.
During the meeting, they also discussed Navalny's return to Russia. Sviatlana called on international organizations to help organize a safe return home for her and other leaders of the democratic forces: “Together with the international community, I would like to find ways to return to Belarus safely. Following two criminal cases were initiated against me with an interstate wanted list, these should be special guarantees for my return. The situation with Navalny showed that this requires the help of the international community and, above all, the OSCE,” Tikhanovskaya said.
The meeting was organized by the EU Delegation to the OSCE and the EU Permanent Representative Rasa Ostravskaite. This is not the first meeting of Tsikhanouskaya in the OSCE: she has already addressed the OSCE ambassadors in Vienna in November and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, where she conducted a dialogue with the representative of the Lukashenka regime, Andrei Savinykh.
