Sanctions Policy and National Dialogue Discussed as Tsikhanouskaya Meets Kallas

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

According to the Tsikhanouskaya Office, the topics discussed included:

• the release of political prisoners and contacts with the United States on humanitarian issues;
• the results of Tsikhanouskaya’s recent visit to Ukraine and the development of cooperation with the Ukrainian side;
• strengthening sanctions against the Lukashenka regime and closing loopholes in the sanctions framework;
• support for independent media, human rights defenders, civil society and democratic institutions;
• maintaining mobility for Belarusians and the issuance of Schengen visas;
• the regional security situation and efforts to counter Russian disinformation: Tsikhanouskaya handed over a number of analytical documents and spoke about the participation of Belarusian civil society in protecting elections in Armenia and Moldova from Russian influence;
• the prospects for a national dialogue as one of the tools for the peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Tsikhanouskaya stressed the importance of maintaining a humanitarian approach to the release of prisoners without providing political legitimacy to the regime. She called for the elimination of loopholes in the sanctions framework and noted that easing restrictions should only be possible after irreversible changes in the regime’s policies. She said that despite the recent release of political prisoners, repression has not ceased and is instead intensifying and taking new forms.

She emphasized that the first step toward a national dialogue should be the release of all political prisoners, a full amnesty and an end to repression.