• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Tsahkna at the conference on Belarus: We stand jointly for the people of Belarus to be able to live freely

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

13.11.2023

On Friday 10 November, a conference on the future of Belarus was held at the Tallinn Creative Hub, with many representatives of the Belarusian opposition attending, including Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also took part in the conference.

The day was opened by Foreign Minister Tsahkna with a speech that highlighted the common efforts of Estonia and Belarus towards democracy and support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. Tsahkna underlined that we must fight together to prevent the forces of evil from prevailing over freedom. "The people of Estonia know how difficult it is to stand up for your country while living far away from your homeland. The democratic forces of Estonia and Belarus are standing jointly for the Belarusian people to live freely and for them to have the correct information," he said

In the opening panel, Tsahkna spoke to the deputy head of the transitional government of Belarus Pavel Latushka about the future of Belarus and the situation caused by the war in Ukraine. "Ukraine is fighting for the freedom of us all. Lukashenko is also responsible for the aggression and war crimes committed by Russia, and he needs to be held accountable alongside Russia's leadership," Tsahkna said.

The second panel focused on the role of the civil society and free media in Belarus. Exiled journalists, heads of media houses and communication experts took part in the panel. The discussion focused on the role of social activism and free media and the strategy for ingraining democratic values in Belarus. Participants saw reaching Belarusians with their messages as one of the main problems.

"We have been blocked in Russia and Belarus, and more than a hundred of our domains have been closed but we are finding new ways," Media Manager Aleksandra Pushkina said. "Our goal is to keep the number of readers from falling because every number represents a person and it is important for us to reach them," she said. Head of TBD Media Anton Penkovski said the opposition media must always have several backup plans for reaching people.

"When visiting Estonia, we can see how informed Estonians are about what is happening in Belarus, and they understand the seriousness and true meaning of the situation. Unfortunately, this is not the case across all of Europe, and it is our job to make the people living in democratic Europe understand that what is happening in Belarus is not merely a protest, it is a grave abuse of society and the rights of people," Olena Malinovska, Media Manager at EU Neighbours East, said.

The panel was closed by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who thanked Estonia for organising the conference and emphasised that the future of Belarus was in Europe. "Our people, volunteers, activists and human rights defenders will not tire of fighting for Belarus," she said.

The third panel was moderated by US Ambassador to Estonia George P. Kent and it looked at human rights violations and holding the Belarusian regime accountable. The safety of people is one of the greatest issues in working against the regime. It was a common and major problem mentioned by almost all panellists throughout the day. "We must all contribute to the release of political prisoners in Belarus. They are heroes who have sacrificed their freedom for democracy. In our view, the sanctions against Belarus must be ramped up because the ones in force now are not enough for Lukashenko to leave power. The cost of the war must be raised further," Andrei Sharnedo, who has been an opposition activist for nearly 30 years, said.

"Lukashenko has been declared a criminal. Why do we allow him to continue to travel by plane, move around quite freely, and why have we not held him accountable for his crimes yet?" Deputy Head Latushka, whose brother is a political prisoner in Belarus, said in a powerful statement.

The last panel explored the future visions for Belarus, with several panellists highlighting that Belarus belonged in Europe and the future of a democratic Belarus would be in the European Union. "We must begin work right now in order to ensure that the citizens who have left due to the current regime return once democracy is restored," Deputy Speaker of the Belarusian Coordination Council and Head of the NGO Honest People Lena Zhivoglod said. "It is crucial that there is no new pro-Russian ruler. Our society must stand against this and to this end, we must speak more about the future and opportunities, and involve people in discussions," she said.

Alina Kaushik, the spokesperson for Belarusian culture and language and a representative of the transitional government, underlined that perpetuating one official language was characteristic of a European country and said it was something Belarus could learn from Estonia. Participants thanked the organisers for holding the conference in Belarusian.

The conference was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Estonian Institute of Human Rights.