Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had a working visit to Iceland. The main topic of all meetings is how Iceland can help independent media, workers, doctors, and Belarusian civil society when the regime responds to sanctions by increasing repressions on people.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was received on the highest level. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya met with President Gudni Johannesson, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, and representatives of Parliament.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said that it is very important for Belarusians that sanctions against the regime be quick and effective because repression is intensifying. Sviatlana told the story of a female law student, Ekaterina Vinnikova, who received 15 days for giving the names of repressed teachers and lawyers, and other Belarusians who were suffering in prison. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also mentioned the huge flow of illegal migrants on the border with Lithuania as a reaction of the regime to the active support of the Lithuanian government of Belarusians.
– Belarusian Leader and the Prime Minister discussed increasing support for media, telegram, and YouTube projects. The premier herself worked as a journalist and understands the importance of independent media. At meetings Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told about self-organization of Belarusians: «Workers movement», project of telemedicine okdoc.me, samizdat.
– The Minister for Foreign Affairs asked the Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya list of concrete actions that Iceland could take for Belarusians. He said he would raise the issue of Belarus in the OSCE and the North Baltic Eight.
They also spoke with the President of Iceland about the erection of a monument to Torvald Kodransson, a missionary and traveler who was among the first baptists of Belarus and died in Polotsk.
– Members of Parliament asked how they could help Belarus — and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya invited them to help include the topic of the solution of the crisis in Belarus in the order of the day of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
– With the Rector of the University of Reykjavik, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed scholarships and training programmes for repressed students, primarily remote ones.
– Also during the meetings, topical trade links with Belarus, such as seafood exports, were discussed. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stressed the importance of transparency in business and respect for human rights. If businesses are run under corrupt schemes with a regime and workers' rights are violated, that’s why they’re on sanctions lists.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya encouraged Icelanders to write to political prisoners, and the First Lady supported the idea. The Icelandic president, along with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, went to the diaspora and greeted the Belarusians.
