Opposition politician asks Czech MPs to ratchet up pressure on Łukašenka

September 2, BPN. Belarusians should not face visa restrictions for wrongdoings of Alaksandr Łukašenka’s regime, Pavieł Łatuška, a member of the opposition’s transition cabinet, told Olga Richterová, deputy speaker of the Czech Parliament, and Czech MPs from the parliamentary group Friends of Free Belarus.

Shifting responsibility to ordinary Belarusians “is absolutely unacceptable,” Łatuška said in his Telegram channel, noting that Belarusian civil society supports Ukraine in its struggle against Russian military aggression.

The politician also said that he had discussed a roundtable on democratic reforms, the inclusion of the Belarusian law enforcement agencies into the Czech list of terrorist organizations, pressure on the Łukašenka regime and holding it accountable “for crimes against Belarusians and for the war against Ukraine.”

The meeting participants also talked about opening an office of the Belarussian opposition in Prague.

Earlier, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said that his country will seek the suspension of EU visa facilitation agreements with Russia and Belarus.

He recalled that the Czech Republic has not issued tourist visas to Russian and Belarusian nationals since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. However, Prague is not indifferent to the fate of the Russians and Belarusians persecuted in their homelands, and hundreds have already received Czech residence permits, he added.

On July 1, the Czech Republic took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second time in its history.