Vital Rymasheuski: Independence cannot be built on foundation of dictatorship

The people of Belarus, not the ruling regime should be the subject in the dialogue with the West.

Vital Rymasheuski, the co-head of the organising committee to create the Belarusian Christian Democracy party (BCD), met with a delegation of political directors of the foreign ministries of the Visegrad Group member states on December 10. Representatives of Belarusian civil society attended the meeting. The political situation in Belarus and the format of the cooperation between the EU and Belarus were discussed. The main aim of the visit of Czech, Polish, Hungarian and Slovakian diplomats was to restore the dialogue between the EU and the Belarusian authorities, charter97.org learnt from the BCD press service.

“The position of the Christian Democracy party is that the dialogue should answer certain conditions. The subject of the dialogue should be the people of Belarus, not the top officials. Values and principles should not be compromised. The independence of Belarus is under threat, but we cannot build an independent country with the dictatorship as the foundation. Repressions go on in the country and increase ahead of the 2015 presidential campaign. The situation will worsen if the dialogue with Minsk lacks firmness. The mistakes of 2010 should not be repeated. The regime took the West's liberalisation as weakness that led to the brutal events on December 19,” Vital Rymasheuski noted.

According to him, the position of the Visegrad Group in the EU in relation to Belarus is being worked out, but different approaches exist. “We cannot agree to all of them, but it is a positive sign that representatives of Belarusian society are engaged,” the co-head of the BCD organising committee said.