US Secretary of State and EU High Representative Met With Belarusian Opposition :: Charter'97 :: News

Today in Vilnius representatives of Belarusian opposition and civil society took part in consultation with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana. Foreign Minister of Lithuania Antanas Valionis has taken part in the meeting as well. As the press center of the Charter’97 was informed by one of the participants of the talks, Svetlana Zavadskaya, our delegation has managed to get across to other participants the information about the developments in Belarus, has informed about their understanding of the situation ion the country. Zavadskaya stressed that the evaluation of the Belarusian problem of the sides had agreed.

During the meeting Condoleeza Rice expressed hope for the unity of the Belarusian civil society. As said by her, the issues of the disappeared oppositional politicians and public figures in Belarus, free press and printed word has never been more acute. She also said that no government could be forgiven for vote rigging.

Mr. Solana expressed concern about the situation in Belarus and re-assured that the EU is closely following the developments in Belarus. He stressed the importance of the opposition and civil society uniting, especially in view of next year`s presidential elections. The High Representative also reiterated the EU`s support for the democracy process in Belarus.

The Belarusian side was represented by a member of the Council of Civil Initiatives “Free Belarus” Dzmitry Barodka, one of the leaders of civil initiative “We Remember” Svetlana Zavadskaya, a well-known Belarusian human rights activist, representative of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahanyajla, deputy editor of the “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper Svetlana Kalinkina, Head of the European Humanities University Anatoliy Mikhailov, deputy Chairman of the United Civil Party Alexander Dobrovolski, one of the leaders of women movement Ludmila Petina.

As said by Svetlana Zavadskaya, the Belarusian delegation acted as one united front at the talks. The delegation has informed Ms. Rice, Mr. Solana and Mr. Valionis about the situation in Belarus. The wide diversity of participants allowed showing the most comprehensive picture of the struggle of the civil society with the current regime.

“At the meeting I have realized that our vision of the Belarusian problem to a large extent coincides with the vision of Ms. Rice,” told Svetlana Zavadskaya. “I am satisfied with that, and I hope that it would be helpful for our future work and cooperation”.

After the high-profile meeting the Belarusian delegation held a news conference and answered the questions of foreign journalists, representatives of the leading world TV channels, radio stations and newspapers, who accompanied Condoleeza Rice in her trip to Russia and Eastern European countries.

photo lenta.ru