Фото: twitter.com/Tsihanouskaya
Participants in the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have issued a statement condemning Kremlin interference in Belarusian politics and Belarus’ involvement in the war against Ukraine. The statement was published on the platform’s website on July 2.
The statement was issued as part of the implementation of a PACE resolution granting the platform of Russia’s democratic forces the right to work within the assembly’s structures. This had previously been a condition put forward by the delegation of Belarus’ democratic forces before the resolution was adopted.
The statement says Belarus is a sovereign state whose independence has been consistently undermined by the Russian authorities through political and economic pressure, the deployment of military infrastructure and interference in the country’s domestic affairs. The authors argue that the deployment of Russian military facilities, the use of Belarusian infrastructure by the Russian army and the subordination of the country’s economy to Russia’s military needs create risks both for Ukraine and for the wider region.
” Russian missile strikes have been launched from Belarusian territory, and since 2023 Russian tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed there — this directly threatens residents of border regions and increases the risk of escalation,” the statement says.
The authors state that Belarusian society rejects the war and the use of the country as a staging ground for aggression.
“Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, which has held onto power thanks to Russian military and political support following the falsification of the 2020 elections and the brutal suppression of protests, has turned Belarus into an accomplice in Russian aggression — in exchange for preserving its own power. This deal between two authoritarian regimes grossly violates the sovereignty of the Belarusian people and the norms of international law, and both sides bear responsibility for it,” the statement says.
The platform’s participants expressed their unconditional support for Belarus’ democratic forces and civil society and for their vision of an independent and sovereign Belarus free from external political and military diktat. They also stated that a democratic Russia would regard a democratic Belarus as an equal partner and would build relations in the interests of both peoples.