Strategy of United Democratic Forces of Belarus Presented in Washington :: Charter'97 :: News

On March 4 a visit of a delegation of Belarusian democratic forces to the U.S. has finished. The delegation consisted of the leader of the Belarusian Popular Front party Vintsuk Vyachorka, the chairman of the United Democratic party Anatol Lyabedzka, First Secretary of the Party of Communists of Belarus Syarhei Kalyakin, a wife of the political prisoner Iryna Kazulina and a chairman of a working group of the Non-governmental Organizations Assembly Syarhei Matskevich. They arrived to the U.S. on February 27.

On March 2 a meeting of the Belarusian delegation with representatives of the Foreign Ministries of 9 European countries, including Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and other Baltic States and states of Northern Europe was organized in Washington. A Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs David Kramer took part in the meeting. Belarusian politicians told about the political situation in the country and presented a strategy of the united democratic forces.

“We have been asked a lot of concrete questions,” the UCP press-service quotes Anatol Lyabedzka. “It shows that Foreign Ministries of Northern European countries are well-acquainted with the general situation and with some of the finer points of the developments in Belarus.

As said by the UCP leader, representatives of foreign ministries were interested what Europe could do to change the situation in Belarus. “In this connection we expressed our critical attitude towards the position of the official Brussels, which does not have a clear strategy and plan of actions towards Belarus. However, we had to do justice to them for drawing up a document with proposals of the European Union for Belarus and its citizens,” A. Lyabedzka said.

Representatives of Belarusian democratic forces have addressed a session of a round table with fifty representatives of American state institutions, NGOs and mass media. “They have demonstrated their great and genuine interest in Belarus and events in our country,” the UCP leader said.

According to the BelaPAN, earlier Belarusian politicians met a number of U.S. Congressmen. In particular, at a meeting with the Chairman of the U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe Alcee Hastings a possibility of holding Congress hearings on the problem of political prisoners in Belarus. The Belarusian delegation has also met with Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.