Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is on a working visit to Austria. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya met with the President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen today.
During the meeting, Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya and Alexander Van der Bellen:
– discussed the escalation of repressions and fractures in current Belarusian elites, as well as the situation with political prisoners. Ms. Tsikhanovskaya told that on the anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy security forces forbid people to lit lamps at temples in memory of the victims of the disaster;
– discussed Austria’s support for Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya’s call for a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Belarus through negotiations leading to free presidential elections this year. Austria, together with the OSCE, is ready to seek ways to facilitate dialogue with the regime;
– spoke of the importance of preserving the sovereignty and independence of Belarus, of strengthening the national identity and resilience of Belarusian society;
– raised the issue of the situation with COVID in Belarus and the attempts of the regime to hide real statistics on the disease.
