Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Diplomatic Advisor, Dzianis Kuchynski, is on a three-day working visit to Washington. The visit takes place on the eve of a Congressional hearing on the human rights situation in Belarus, scheduled for today.
As part of the visit, Mr. Kuchynski held two meetings at the White House – with the Special Assistant to President Donald Trump and Director for European Affairs, Charles McLoughlin, and with the Senior Advisor to Vice President J.D. Vance, Spira Balas.
Topics of discussion included:
- Follow-up on agreements reached after the meeting with the US Deputy National Security Advisor, Andy Baker, on December 2 last year;
- Continuation of humanitarian efforts for the release of political prisoners;
- Possible implications of the negotiation processes concerning Ukraine for the situation in Belarus, and contacts with the Ukrainian side following the recent meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya;
- Ongoing pressure on political prisoners in places of detention in Belarus and deterioration of their conditions;
- Hybrid attacks by the Lukashenka regime against European Union countries, including Poland and Lithuania.
Mr. Kuchynski noted the continuation of humanitarian efforts for the release of political prisoners, thanks to the work of the US Special Envoy to Belarus, John Coale.
The parties emphasized the importance of pursuing two parallel lines of action:
- Humanitarian – for the release of political prisoners;
- Political – for the restoration of Belarusian sovereignty and the launch of democratic transformations after the cessation of repression and the release and amnesty of all political prisoners.
On behalf of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Dzyanis Kuchynski thanked President Donald Trump for his efforts and achievements in the humanitarian sphere – including the release of another group of political prisoners in Belarus on December 13. Additionally, he submitted a draft proposal from the United Transitional Cabinet on holding a roundtable and the possible role of the United States as an international mediator in future democratic transformations in Belarus.
