The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, met with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Pavel Latushka in Brussels. They attended the opening of an exhibition dedicated to political prisoners in Belarus at the European External Action Service HQ.
This was Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s first meeting with Ms. Kallas in her new role. The Belarusian leader thanked her for supporting Belarus’ democratic forces and called for fostering pro-European sentiment among Belarusians. She emphasized the need to enhance mobility, issue visas, and support civil society programs.
Ms. Kallas and Ms. Tsikhanouskaya discussed the EU strategy vis-a-vis Belarus, including the non-recognition of the upcoming 2025 sham election, regional security threats, the regime’s arms supplies to Russia, sanctions for human rights violations, and Belarus’ potential role in ‘peace negotiations’ on Ukraine. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya spoke about the activities of the democratic forces and civil society, emphasizing the threats to Belarus’ sovereignty.
The parties also explored the possibility of organizing a discussion on Belarus with EU foreign ministers in the coming months.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commented on the meeting: “I am grateful to the High Representative for her solidarity and support. She understands our situation and backs our efforts. I am confident we can achieve a lot together. The EU must distinguish between the regime and Belarusians. While isolating the regime, we must not isolate the people”.
