Latvian MFA Meets With Belarusian Oppositionists

The politicians discussed the situation with political prisoners, the lack of freedom of assembly and holding of fair elections.

Chairman of the United Civil Party Anatol Liabedzka, leader of the Belarusian Popular Front party Aliaksei Yanukevich and co-chairman of the BCD Pavel Seviarynets met with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs on July 18 in Minsk.

Rinkēvičs started his three-day visit to Belarus today and plans to meet also with the representatives of the authorities.

Anatol Liabedzka told Radio Liberty that Riga supported the idea of a tripartite dialogue.

"Riga stands for a trilateral dialogue, in which the authorities, the supporters of changes and the official Riga would participate. And we said that dialogue was necessary, only it must be, first, critical, secondly, conditioned and, thirdly, on a tripartite basis. It should include representatives of both civil society and political opposition. This is the only way we will talk about the interests of nine and a half million people, because today the government does not represent the interests of all residents of the country," - Liabedzka said.

The politicians also touched upon the issue of conducting free, fair elections in Belarus under the OSCE standards.

"For us, the local election campaign is an indicator of positive changes in Belarus," Anatol Liabedzka told.

According to Pavel Seviarynets, they also talked about the absense of free elections in Belarus, the existence of political prisoners, and the lack of freedom of assembly and association.

"It seems that there are some positive developments. However, it got even worse with regard to some aspects. And, of course, we were talking about the Russian threat, especially in the light of the West-2017 exercises," - Pavel Seviarynets said.

As Seviarynets noted, the interlocutors from Latvia were very adequate.

"Latvia used to be more pragmatic and was closed to the civil society and democrats. Now the situation has changed, it's obvious. Judging from the recent meetings with the representatives of Latvia, more conscious people came there," - said the Co-Chairman of the BCD.

Pavel Seviarynets said that European politicians started falling down on the Belarusian land just like rain recently. He believes that this is due to the West-2017 exercise:

"In depth, there is interest in the situation that may arise this autumn in connection with these exercises. I believe that the West is extremely concerned about this imperial game of saber rattling.”