We count on the continued support of the Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus within the OSCE

At the reception hosted by the German Embassy in Warsaw, in the framework of the Weimar Triangle, on the occasion of a meeting with the Belarusian democratic forces in connection with the OSCE Human Dimension Conference. Photo: The NAM media

Theses of the speech by Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet and Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, at the reception hosted in the framework of the Weimar Triangle on the occasion of a meeting with the Belarusian democratic forces in connection with the OSCE Human Dimension Conference

15.10.2025 

Your Excellency Miguel Berger,

Excellencies, Belarusian colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Allow me to thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to speak here, at the German Embassy in Warsaw. 

We, Belarusians, are grateful to Germany, Poland and France for your consistent support of the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people, standing firm in defense of our rights, dignity, and hope for a free and just Belarus.

Since the very beginning of the brutal suppression of peaceful protests in Belarus in 2020, your countries as all our democratic partners have taken a principled and courageous stand. You extended a hand of solidarity to the victims of the regime’s atrocities — to political prisoners, those forced into exile, and those who remained in Belarus and suffered for their commitment to freedom and democracy.

And we will never forget this solidarity in our most difficult times.

Since 2020, the situation in Belarus has changed profoundly. The Lukashenko regime has systematically expanded its repressive practices, reaching into new areas of society and extending far beyond Belarus’s borders. Around 600,000 Belarusians have been forced into exile. Those who have left Belarus continue to face persecution by the regime even abroad — through absentia trials, threats of violence, intimidation of relatives remaining in Belarus, arrest of property. Belarusians abroad are also deprived, on discriminatory grounds, of access to essential consular services, including passport renewals and notarization of documents.

Today, the growing evidence absolutely allows us to assert that the external dimension of Belarusian repression is not just large, but immense and unprecedented. The number of potential victims of these repressions is measured in hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of victims outside Belarus whom the regime continues to persecute. 

These large-scale transnational repressive practices of the Lukashenko regime represent a serious threat to regional security in Europe.

Thanks to the Government of Lithuania, these developments are under preliminary examination of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Support for Lithuania’s actions by other countries is extremely important because the scale of the Lukashenko regime’s cross-border crimes is overwhelming, and accountability for this is a critical necessity.

At the same time, as Deputy to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, I would like to underline the continued relevance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In 2023, the OSCE established the Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus, and it is symbolic that the Permanent Mission of Germany to the OSCE serves as one of the two members of the group’s secretariat.

This group has become a unique platform for advancing the interests of democratic Belarus and for developing effective measures to address the security threats from the Lukashenko regime. In particular, the Belarusian democratic forces see an auxiliary role of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism in monitoring the situation of transnational repression and in developing appropriate responses to these challenges.

By sharing common European values and continuing the struggle for democracy in Belarus, we count on the continued support of Germany, Poland and France and the Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus within the OSCE.

Belarusians continue their struggle — for a free, democratic Belarus, for a common European future. Supporting this struggle by our partners, holding the Lukashenko regime accountable for crimes against Belarusians, is a fight for justice. And justice must prevail.

Thank you.

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