Foreign Minister Tsahkna to Tsikhanouskaya: when the world is split in two, democracy must be the stronger side
Today 19 November, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna met with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the democratic forces of Belarus, who is on a visit to Estonia. Their meeting covered the upcoming so-called presidential elections in Belarus, Estonia’s continued support for the Belarusian opposition and ramping up sanctions against Belarus’ illegally elected leader Lukashenko.
At the meeting, Foreign Minister Tsahkna announced Estonia would contribute €30 000 to the fund that supports victims of repressions by the Belarusian regime. “It is an international humanitarian fund aimed at supporting former and currently imprisoned political prisoners and their families,” Tsahkna said. “For a long time now, Estonia has considered it very important to support the opposition and political prisoners of Belarus, and we will continue working towards the release of all political prisoners in Belarus and Russia.”
They also spoke about the upcoming so-called elections in Belarus and Tsahkna said Estonia would not recognise the vote. “The presidential elections set to take place in January 2025 are organised in an atmosphere of terror and they cannot meet democratic norms,” he said. “We must ramp up sanctions against Lukashenko’s regime to make him realise that he selling his country and people to Russia is unacceptable.”
Tsahkna also said that Estonia supported all steps aimed at holding Lukashenko’s regime accountable. “Estonia supports Lithuania’s proposal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into crimes against humanity in Belarus.”
Tsikhanovskaya also presented Tsahkna with the Cross of Good Neighborhood for supporting the Belarusian opposition.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is in Estonia for two days. In addition to Estonia’s foreign minister, she met with the president of the Riigikogu and MPs, with the education minister, minister of the interior and minister of culture, and attended the conference “Is it dangerous to learn history? The example of Belarus” in Tartu. She will open an exhibition of posters at the Tammsaare Park in Tallinn by Pan ZmiThor, a Belarusian artist residing in Denmark.
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