The Presidents of the Baltic States and Poland Announced Additional Sanctions against the Lukashenka Regime
- 24.08.2021, 12:05
A statement on Belarus was made at the summit in Kyiv.
The Presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland, Gitanas Nauseda, Egils Levits, Kersti Kaljulaid, and Andrzej Duda, during a meeting in Kyiv on August 23, issued a joint declaration on Belarus, where they noted that problems with migrants would not force them to change their position on the political crisis in the republic... The statement, signed by the heads of the four states, was published on the website of the President of Poland.
The presidents noted that, in August last year, the Belarusian authorities did not listen to the voice of their citizens, who hoped that "they have the right to decide the future of their country in free elections," and "instead of hope, there was fear and widespread repression."
“We, the Presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, stand in solidarity against the aggressive and destabilizing behavior of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and the Belarusian authorities. We are convinced that the will of the Belarusian people should be the main guideline in shaping the future of the Republic of Belarus,” the statement says. "We express our deepest sympathy to the 631 political prisoners [as of August 13] and their relatives. All political prisoners must be released and have their rights restored."
According to the heads of the four states, the only way to end the political crisis in Belarus is through a comprehensive national dialogue leading to free and fair elections.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland support the international sanctions of NATO partners against the Belarusian regime, and additional restrictions will be imposed on the Belarusian authorities in the framework of cooperation with the allies, the declaration emphasizes.
Four presidents called the migration crisis on the border with Belarus "a politically controlled hybrid operation carried out by the Lukashenka regime," in which "defenseless citizens of third countries are exploited." Its purpose is "to divert attention from the more frequent violations of human and civil rights by the regime."
Nauseda called on the heads of Latvia, Poland, and Estonia to seek more active participation of the EU structures and financial support in response to the hybrid attack by the Lukashenka regime, according to the website of the President of Lithuania.
"I propose to jointly initiate discussions in Brussels on several issues: the need to revise the EU migration policy and legal acts regulating the protection of external borders, as well as the possibility of obtaining EU funding for the construction of a physical barrier on the border with Belarus," Nauseda stressed.
Levits, Kaljulaid, Nauseda, and Duda arrived in Kyiv to participate in the first summit of the Crimean Platform.