Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir on the sidelines of the NATO Summit. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland assured Ms. Tsikhanouskaya of Iceland’s support for the democratic forces of Belarus.
The Belarusian leader spoke about the situation with independent media and political prisoners and called for efforts towards their release. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also proposed that Iceland support the international humanitarian fund established recently in Norway to support Belarusian political prisoners and their families. She highlighted the crackdown faced by Belarusians both within the country and in exile, as well as the efforts by democratic forces to hold the regime accountable.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya suggested that the Icelandic minister hold side events on Belarus during the UN General Assembly and the Nordic Council Session, which will take place in Reykjavik later this year.
Iceland consistently supports the democratic forces in Belarus. It has previously supported independent media and public initiatives, joined the OSCE’s group “For a Democratic Belarus”, backed all EU sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime, and invited Ms. Tsikhanouskaya as a special guest to the Council of Europe Summit in Reykjavik in 2023.
