Schallenberg and Lienhardt on the future of Belarus – Austria –

A State Department spokeswoman said Sunday evening, except for a press conference with Schallenberg, Techanowskaga, Varheli, and Linhart at the Federal Chancellery, all program items will take place except for the media.

A high-level international conference on the future of the troubled country of Belarus began Monday in Vienna. Because of the shutdown, the event will mainly happen roughly. It was initiated by the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the participation of the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tishanovskaya. Tichanovskaya hopes that the conference will lead to a hard line in sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

Tichanovskaya himself will participate in a panel of ministers at the conference “Towards a prosperous and secure future for Belarus” in the morning. Her colleague Veronica Zypkalo and her husband Valerie Zypkalo, prominent opposition politician and former Culture Minister Paul Latuchko and other members of the opposition, were announced to form expert committees this afternoon. The hosts are Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Foreign Minister Michael Lenhart (both from the OVP).

In his opening statement, Lienhart stressed the hope that the conference would be an “important step forward.” It should be “another signal to Belarusian civil society” that it is not alone, Lienhardt said, according to the text of the speech. And we didn’t let him down.” “Our goal is not regime change. We want the Belarusian people to make their own decisions. free. without fear. In Belarus, human rights, freedom of information, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are respected.

The EU Commissioner for Enlargement and the European Neighborhood Policy, Oliver Varheli, as well as the foreign ministers of Germany, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia were also announced at the conference. Also participating in the conference are representatives of the United States of America and France, as well as the media representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Teresa Ribeiro, and international law expert Wolfgang Benedek from Graz. Representatives of the Belarusian regime or the Russian government refused to attend.

The Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir McKej has been highly critical of the conference for more than a week. Meek said during a visit to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Minsk considers the fact that talks on a change of power in Belarus are expected to be a “completely hostile move.” For his part, Lavrov stated that with all good intentions a dialogue could not start in this way. “This initiative made it clear that some feel superior,” Lavrov criticized.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry expressed regret at Minsk’s negative attitude towards the Austrian initiative. “The aim of the conference in Vienna is to find ways out of the current crisis in Belarus with civil society,” the Federal Chancellery said.