"The Ambassador has arrived in Vilnius in order to, while looking back at the fraudulent presidential elections in Belarus, express Latvia’s support for the Belarusian people in their fight for a democratic and fair society that respects human rights and democratic freedoms," said the MFA.
"During the meeting, Einars Semanis noted that the Belarusian people’s courage, trust in the ideals of freedom, and hope is admired in Latvia. The Ambassador expressed indignation at the regime’s repression of civil society and independent media. A special concern is caused by the hijacking of a European aircraft effected by the Belarusian regime and its deliberate activities to direct the flow of illegal migration to the border of Belarus with Lithuania," the MFA added.
Semanis underlined that Latvia will continue to support the democratic movement in Belarus in its fight for an inclusive national dialogue, new presidential elections, the release of all political prisoners, ceasing repression, and respect for human rights.
Tsikhanouskaya thanked Latvia for its solidarity and support for the Belarusian people and she called for continued assistance to civil society, free media and human rights defenders in Belarus.
Ambassador Semanis met with Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya and her staff together with colleagues from Brussels and Warsaw: the Head of the EU Delegation to Belarus, Ambassador Dirk Schuebel, who, at the end of June, was ordered by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to return to Brussels for consultations; and the Ambassador of Poland to Belarus, Artur Michalski, who is working in Warsaw now, having left for Poland on the demand of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry last October.
The chairs of the foreign policy committees of the three Baltic states also released a joint statement marking one year since the rigged elections that have led to Lukashenko's increasingly deranged clinging to power.
"On August 9, 2020, a falsified Belarusian Presidential election threw Belarus into turmoil, leading to peaceful protests among the people of Belarus and the emergence of a broad democratic movement against the incumbent Aleksander Lukashenko," the statement said.
"However, since that day, these protests of tens of thousands of people have been met with mass repression by the Belarusian regime’s authorities. On the anniversary of the falsified election in Belarus, August 9, we, the Chairs of Foreign Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia Lithuania, and Poland stand in solidarity with all Belarusians on the front lines of the struggle for freedom, self-determination, and democracy," it said.
