Poland’s MFA Promises To Support Democratic Community In Belarus

Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Bartosz Cichocki is visiting Minsk.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Bartosz Cichocki is staying in Misk to partake in the Forum of Central European Initiative.

On the eve of official events, he met with the Belarusian politicians and public activists, Radio Liberty reports.

One of the participants of an informal conversation, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Alina Suravets shared her impressions of the dialogue:

"He first listened to us, everyone talked about the situation in their area. Simultaneously, he made remarks for himself on the topics that we raised. Then he responded to our questions, told about the things that Poland did. The main message was as follows. There is an open policy when official statements are made; but there is a also a hidden one, when the topics are discussed behind closed doors, and are not always made public. He also emphasized that if Poland’s opinion on the construction of the Belarusian NPP, or the situation around Belsat TV is not heard in the media , it does not mean that the Polish side do not care about these issues. He repeated several times: Poland remains one of Belarus’ lobbyists at the European level. Therefore, in such important matters as the approach of Belarus to the European public, the Polish side will continue taking measures. "

Belarusian participants of the meeting called on the Polish side not to stop support of the Belarusian social initiatives and independent media, as well as respond appropriately to human rights violations in Belarus. Chairman of the human rights center "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski said this, in particular.

The activists believe that solidarity with the democratic community is a long-term project, which is to become a tangible contribution to the development of democracy in Belarus.

As suggested by Alina Suravets, the Polish authorities want to facilitate democratization in Belarus:

"The representatives of almost all the parties, movements which are active in Belarus were at the meeting. Bartosz Cichocki shared his personal observations of how efficiently we work here. The participants of the meeting also discussed the new European concept, which directly does not seem to deal with Belarus, but Poland as a EU country is involved in it. Therefore, the concern that some Polish programs for Belarus were closed is premature. He confirmed: definitely some funds were actually diverted to the refugees who had arrived in Europe from the hot spots, but it’s not that some programs were closed and would never be resumed – this is out of the question. There’s no need to worry about the decline of interest in Belarus, Polish diplomats are working in many different directions. Tsikhotsky noted that it was necessary to realize there was no way they should make absolutely everything public."

During a visit to Belarus Bartosz Cichocki visited Kurapaty, where he laid a wreath at the national memorial to the victims of Stalinist repression.