July 19, Pozirk. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has held talks with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić.
The meetings took place on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in the United Kingdom yesterday, her aide Franak Viačorka has told Pozirk, without commenting on details.
Cichanoŭskaja might have used the opportunity to appeal to the Serbian leader against extraditing to Belarus filmmaker and opposition activist Andrej Hniot arrested in Serbia in October 2023 at the request of the Belarusian police. Hniot is under house arrest in Belgrade.
Serbia, an EU candidate, joined the EU sanctions against Belarus in 2021 and supported further restrictions introduced for Alaksander Łukašenka’s support of Russia’s war on Ukraine, but Minsk has been making a diplomatic effort to persuade Belgrade to change its policy.
Meanwhile, Hungary is the only European Union member to maintain official contacts with the Belarusian government, accused of human rights abuse.
Budapest has aligned itself with the EU sanctions against Minsk, but Hungarian officials have repeatedly stated their opposition to that policy.
Orbán was in Minsk on an official visit in June 2020, weeks before the Belarusian presidential election that sparked country-wide protests and a politically-motivated crackdown.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó visited Minsk in May after coming to Belarus twice last year.
Last September, Alaksandar Łukašenka accepted credentials from Hungary’s Zita Bencsik, the only EU ambassador to present credentials to the Belarusian ruler after the disputed presidential election on 2020.
On July 1, Hungary assumed the six-month presidency of the EU Council.
