Kavaleuski: we call on EU countries not to help regime isolate people of Belarus

Representative of the United Transitional Cabinet for Foreign Affairs Valery Kavaleuski recently commented on the Latvian Seimas call for the European Union to suspend the process of issuing visas not only to citizens of Russia but also to Belarusians. In his opinion, it "shifts the burden of responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine from Aliaksandr Lukashenka and his dictatorial regime to the Belarusian people, the absolute majority of whom oppose this war and have been subject to repression for three years." "We urge European Union countries not to help the regime isolate the Belarusian people from European values and not to leave them alone with aggressive Russia," Kavaleuski writes.

The representative of the United Transitional Cabinet on International Relations is convinced that "under these conditions, expanding the opportunities for Belarusians to obtain Schengen and national visas to the EU for the sake of human contacts, educational and cultural exchanges, would be an appropriate solution to the context." Valery Kavaleuski has promised to continue working "to prevent restrictive measures against Belarusians in the EU and other countries and to optimize existing procedures for obtaining visas."

It emerged on Thursday that the Latvian Parliament proposed to the EU countries to immediately suspend the tourist and entry visas for citizens of Belarus and Russia. The day before, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks stated that Belarus "can't be perceived as a sovereign country."