Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya took part in the 29th Ministerial Council of the OSCE, which was held in Łódź, Poland. In this way, the OSCE and the Polish Chairmanship of the organization decided to support the representatives of democratic Belarus. The Lukashenka regime was also represented at the event by Andrei Dapkiunas, whom Ms. Tsikhanouskaya met before the meeting.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova, Nicolae Popescu. Contacts with Moldova have intensified in recent months, with Ms. Tsikhanouskaya's representative Anatoli Liabedzka taking part in hearings at the Moldovan Parliament and a group of Friends of Democratic Belarus being officially established there, despite protests from Moldovan communists. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is expected to visit Moldova in the first half of 2023.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had her first official meeting with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid, whom she had met informally twice before. They discussed joint measures to achieve the release of political prisoners, international observers' access to prisons, and justice for the perpetrators of crimes. They talked about the health condition of Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya suggested restarting the OSCE Moscow Mechanism for Belarus.
The Belarusian leader also met with Roberto Montella, Secretary General of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and Margareta Cederfelt, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, and had short talks with the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Estonia, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, and other countries, whose representatives asked to keep the meetings private.
Later, the National Leader of Belarus spoke at a panel discussion on Belarus organized by Estonia and the US and supported by 37 OSCE member states. In her address, she spoke about political prisoners Maryia Kalesnikava, Ales Bialiatski, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, volunteer fighter Pavel Volat and his mother Natallia Suslava. She called on the OSCE to demand access to political prisoners and push for withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarus, as well as support the restart of the Moscow Mechanism against the Lukashenka regime. Michael Carpenter, head of the US delegation, said that the proposed steps would be considered and implemented.
“We should have learned well that the only option we have left, the only option that can work against tyrants, is concerted, courageous, and decisive action. I ask you not to miss this chance to defend the future of democracy in Europe. The stakes now are higher than ever. And we might not have another chance,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya concluded.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya passed the floor to representatives of Belarusian civil society and the head of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, which collects evidence of Lukashenka's crimes.
