“Mr. Chairman Michael Roth, Mr. Chairman Dr. Anton Hofreiter,
Dear members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Affairs Committee,
Dear friends,
Thank you for this opportunity to meet with you. On behalf of the Belarusian people, let me thank you for supporting our fight for democracy.
Yesterday, I spoke to the members of the recently formed parliamentary Group “Democratic Belarus” and members of parliament who became godparents to Belarusian political prisoners.
I was impressed with their solidarity and dedication. And I’m glad that the Belarusian topic doesn’t divide but unites different political groups and parties.
Yesterday, I met the minister of finance Christian Lindner. I asked to increase assistance to Belarusian democratic forces and civil society. And last night, I was honoured to give the 17th Berlin Freedom speech at the Friedriech Naumann foundation. In my speech, I emphasised the importance of firm and coordinated action of the West towards Lukashenka and Putin, and supporting Belarus and Ukraine.
In 2020, Belarusians clearly said: we want to live in a free democratic independent and European country.
Belarusian society has changed forever. And those changes in moods were also the result of many years of German support. The Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Ebert foundation, the Friedrich Naumann foundation, Goethe institute and many other German institutions brought the values of democracy and freedom to our country. They supported Belarusian culture and independent thinking.
And the spirit of 2020 is alive in Belarusians. The desire to live in a democracy is growing stronger in spite of repressions and propaganda. We should do everything to support this spirit. To give Belarusians hope for changes.
The question, whether Belarus will or won’t be a democratic and independent country, is of key international importance. Stability and security of Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and the whole Europe depends on the answer to this question.
On the brink of losing his power in 2020, Lukashenka completely subdued Belarus to Russian political and military policy. He traded Belarusian independence for his personal interests. This is high treason, and I’m sure that Lukashenka will be tried for it, among other crimes.
Today, we’re witnessing a creeping occupation of Belarus by Russia. Lukashenka allowed the deployment of Russian troops and enabled the Russian assault on Ukraine.
Now, Lukashenka continues to send to Russia weapons and military vehicles, and to provide Russia with training facilities and military bases. From five to ten thousand Russian soldiers are stationed in Belarus. They rotate regularly. After training, they are sent to Ukraine to fight.
Recently, Lukashenka has met with a pro-Russian separatist leader Pushilin in Minsk. It’s a sign that Lukashenka is losing his political independence to Russia. He could probably officially recognize the separatists in the near future.
Last month, Putin and Lukashenka announced the plans to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. It would be the first spread of nuclear weapons in Europe since the Non-proliferation agreement. We must not allow this to happen. It would be the great threat of regional security, but also it will fix Russian control over Belarus for years ahead.
In the shadow of war, Lukashenka’s regime intensified repressions. On average, 17 people are arrested every day. People are persecuted for their comments on social media or donating to the Ukrainian army.
The number of political prisoners is growing. People are being tortured, beaten, kept in full isolation. We know the names of 1500 political prisoners but the real number can be two or three times bigger.
You can’t see big beautiful rallies now due to the level of terror. The protest fully went underground. More than 200,000 joined the Peramoha plan, created to coordinate underground resistance. In 2022 only, more than 80 acts of sabotage took place on railways.
Belarusians demonstrated the clear stance: we are against this war. We do support Ukraine. That is why it is important to divide Belarusian people and Lukashenka’s regime which became Putin’s accomplice. It is also important to separate Belarus and Russia: don’t put us in the same basket.
My goal as the national leader is to coordinate and consolidate efforts of all Belarusian democratic forces. This is why, last August, we created the United Transitional Cabinet and the Coordination Council. The large majority of Belarusian democratic political subjects and civil society work in coordination and coherence.
Last weekend, the second World Congress of Belarusians took place in Vilnius. It was organized by my office. We discussed five major points of our efforts in the near future. And I hope for your help in their implementation.
- First, keeping Belarus and the political prisoners in the world’s agenda. We must make their release our common priority.
- Second, the sanctions enforcement. Sanctions do not work in full due to loopholes. The regime circumvents sanctions through Russia and other countries.
- Third, prosecuting Lukashenka and his cronies via existing mechanisms or creating new ones. We ask to establish the international tribunal not only against Putin but also his lapdog. He has a long record of crimes: crimes against humanity, hijacking the airplane, orchestrating migration crisis, complicity in war crimes.
- Fourth, supporting the Belarusian democratic movement. It’s crucial that Germany continues to issue visas, and provide assistance to our media and civil society.
I propose democratic Belarus and Germany to institutionalise their relationship. I propose to launch the strategic dialogue as we are going to do with the United States later this year. It will allow us to communicate regularly and develop strategies that will bring democratic changes to Belarus and prepare for transition.
Once again, I would like to thank the Bundestag parties for creating the Group for Democratic Belarus. We expect the next step to be the Bundestag’s resolution in support of independent and democratic Belarus.
One of our goals is to promote the European choice for Belarus as an alternative to the “Russian World”. And it would be great if you can speak publicly about it. Belarusians want to hear that they are expected in Europe.
Dear friends,
I know that I am among friends here. I am grateful for your solidarity and support. Germany has a powerful voice in the world and many other countries are looking at you. Be the champions in promoting democratic changes in Belarus.
I am sure that democratic, independent and non-nuclear Belarus will become a reliable partner for Germany in the future. Let’s work together on making this happen!
Thank you very much for your time and attention”.
