On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton. The meeting took place during the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, which Tsikhanouskaya has attended for several years.
Former President Clinton asked about the situation in Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s work, and how Belarus’s democratic movement continues to operate amid mass repression. The parties also discussed Belarusians inside the country and how to keep international attention focused on Belarus.
Mr. Clinton shared his memories of the historic visit to Minsk on January 15, 1994. He remains the first and, so far, only sitting US president to have visited independent Belarus. In Minsk, he met with then-Head of State Stanislau Shushkevich, government officials, and representatives of the democratic forces. He also visited Kurapaty, where he paid tribute to the victims of Stalinist repression. President Clinton’s visit aimed to support democratic reforms and Belarus’s decision to give up its nuclear weapons.
Earlier, in 1993, during a meeting between Mr. Clinton and Mr. Shushkevich at the White House, the US administration welcomed Belarus’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and announced three assistance agreements worth $59 million to help Belarus address its nuclear legacy. At the time, Washington viewed Belarus as a newly independent state with an opportunity to develop democratic institutions and integrate into the broader community of European democracies.
During his conversation with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Mr. Clinton warmly recalled Belarus in the early 1990s and the hopes of that time. He expressed his support for Belarusians and their aspirations for a free and democratic future.
This was not Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s first meeting with Bill Clinton. They first met in Washington in 2022 at a memorial service for former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. This time, in New York, they had an opportunity to talk in detail about Belarus.
“More than 30 years ago, Bill Clinton came to Belarus at a time when our country had an opportunity for a democratic future. Today, Belarusians are once again fighting for that opportunity. It was truly important for me to hear that President Clinton remembers Belarus, believes in Belarusians, and supports our aspiration for freedom. We must do everything we can to ensure that Belarus does not lose its historic opportunity this time”, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya noted.
