Ukrainian Foreign Ministry welcomes release of Belarusian opposition members

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said Kyiv welcomes the release of Andrei Sannikov, an opposition member and former candidate for Belarusian president.

"Ukraine welcomes the release of former candidate for Belarusian president Andrei Sannikov, and his authorized representative in the 2010 presidential election, Dmitry Bondarenko. We see this as an important step towards ensuring respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms in Belarus," Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dykusarov said at a briefing on Wednesday.

He added that the Foreign Ministry hopes that this process would continue in a positive manner with respect to other prisoners who were imprisoned after the presidential elections in 2010.

"This will facilitate the resumption of full-scale dialog between Belarus and the EU, and the active involvement of this country in common European integration processes," he added.

As reported, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko issued a decree last week releasing ex-presidential candidate Sannikov and opposition member Bondarenko, who was his authorized representative during the election campaign. Dmitry Dashkevich, Edward Lobov, Pavel Sieviaryniets and Nikolai Statkevich are still imprisoned.