In her office in Vilnius, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya received US Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter, who spoke the day before at the Kalinowski Forum about the US plans to support Belarusians. US Special Envoy to Belarus Julie Fischer also joined the meeting.
At the meeting, Tsikhanouskaya and Carpenter discussed:
– the de-facto occupation of Belarus by Russian troops and the role of the illegitimate government of Lukashenka in authorizing it. The regime's actions led to an evident loss of Belarus' political and military sovereignty. The illegal decisions that led to the indefinite stay of Russian troops in Belarus, involvement in the war against Ukraine, as well as Belarus' commitment to deploy nuclear weapons may be attributed to the state of occupation;
– the non-recognition of the Lukashenka regime, shorn of the ability to make independent decisions. The complete non-recognition will nullify the regime's joint decisions with Putin, as well as help curb lawlessness in Belarus. Among other things, the withdrawal of recognition will prevent corruption and money laundering by nullifying the directive allowing a tender-free procedure of selling state property, or placing any amount of money on bank deposits without evidence of origin;
– Belarusians' volunteer initiatives, including the Kastus Kalinouski battalion which supports Ukrainians in defending Kyiv, and their importance in the context of Belarusians' support for Ukrainians;
– Belarus' and Russia's membership in the OSCE and their violation of the Helsinki Accords. Carpenter and Tsikhanouskaya talked about how the OSCE and other platforms could help limit the regime's interference and strengthen the democratic forces' participation;
– the possibility of using the OSCE in the international efforts on Belarus, as well as expanding the democratic forces' cooperation with the allies of independent democratic Belarus;
– discrimination and stigmatization of Belarusians abroad associated with Lukashenka's decision to support the aggression against Ukraine. The reported cases include discrimination against relocated Belarusian who are fighting the regime and have fled repression. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for the active involvement of OSCE/ODIHR mechanisms to target such issues;
– holding a conference on the implementation of the recommendations given by the OSCE Moscow Mechanism invoked following the 2020 events in Belarus.
Michael Carpenter also invited Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to address the Ambassadors to the OSCE in Vienna.
