“Hello, my dear Belarusians,
Now I am in Washington with my team. For the first time in many years, Belarusians are accepted at such a level. Yesterday, we had a meeting with US State Secretary Anthony Blinken. We discussed how important it is to support Belarusian journalists and human rights defenders, medical staff, workers, students, and innocent prisoners. I spoke with the Secretary of State not on behalf of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya but on behalf of 562 political prisoners – Ales Bialiatski and Aliaksandr Ivulin, Volha Filatchankava, and Alana Gebremariam. On behalf of all democratic forces and the people of Belarus.
And Belarusians expect the US to act decisively – the more they pressure the regime, the faster it will succeed. America has already declared Lukashenka an illegitimate ruler, and now we must make him a criminal. Yesterday, in a meeting with Secretary Blinken, I said that we would continue to fight for the freedom of Belarus, with or without international support – but the solidarity of other countries would make this path shorter and less painful.
Today, I visited the White House and met with National Security Adviser to President Biden Jake Sullivan. We’ve already spoken to him after the Ryanair plane hijack. Mr. Sullivan knows in detail what is happening in Belarus and how important it is for the US, as a strong democracy, to help our country in its struggle for freedom. Think about it: the last visit of a representative of Belarusians to the White House was 28 years ago – in 1993, Stanislau Shushkevich came here. Since then, much has changed – the regime has come to power, and our country has been frozen in time for almost 30 years and disappeared from the US agenda. And now it’s time to bring it back.
This week, I will meet with a bipartisan group of United States senators because American policy on Belarus depends on the US Congress. And I am pleased to announce that our joint efforts in the US House of Representatives will be the Belarus Caucus – an official group of American congressmen who will work on the Belarus issue. By comparison, many countries have been represented in the US for decades – and now, finally, Belarus has gained that recognition. And we’re working to create such a group in the US Senate.
It is essential that both parties, the White House, the Department of State, and the US Congress, are united in their support of the Belarusians. Our challenge now is to transfer that support into concrete action. So after Washington, we will continue working meetings in New York and other American cities. In each of them, I will be happy to meet the Belarusian diaspora, and in each of them, I will talk about the importance of helping those inside Belarus. After all, everything we do aims to return us to a free and safe house called Belarus”.
