‘It’s Is Enough To Close Goods Transit And This Junta Is Done’

Belarusians call on Europe to act decisively.

A reader of the Charter97.org website has shared her story about the difficulties that await those who want to obtain a Schengen visa in Belarus now:

“My husband is a truck driver. Life turned in such a way that it is an extremely difficult task to find a job with a decent salary in our area to be able to feed a family with four children. That is why he chose such an uneasy work and path. Every year we come across one and the same problem — getting a visa. Earlier, they gave visas quite quickly: you just needed to browse a website, sign up, fill in the form, prepare the necessary documents — and the visa was in your hands.

This year, however, it was very hard for my husband to get one. It took two months and my monthly salary as a kindergarten teacher. The first obstacle we faced was the impossibility to register a date for going to the embassy. We addressed a travel agency in early August, and paid them BYN 350 so that they could help us sign up for a date for filing documents to obtain a visa. And we started waiting. In early autumn they called us and said that we would be able to submit documents in the middle of September, and get a visa by the end of the month.”

They sent our reader as far as to Homel to try and get a visa:

“It’s a real challenge to get to Homel from the Minsk region. While standing in a queue, we heard a dozen of stories about the visa sufferings. There were people from Mahiliou, from Vitsebsk in that queue. The only thing that pleased was that they promised to send us the documents via mail. So we started waiting again.

Given this whole visa story, I got just one question: against whom do the sanctions work? I feel them working against my family, in particular. Does the Lukashenka gang feel them? I don’t think so, they have not been accepted in Europe for ages anyway. So maybe it’s time to finally stop the transit of goods and impose real sanctions, not for the ordinary Belarusians to feel but the criminal regime in power? I think that it is enough to close the transit of goods and this junta is done.”

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