On 12 March, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the leader of the Belarusian opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya at the Riga Castle.
President Rinkēvičs expressed Latvia’s solidarity with and support for political prisoners and their families in Belarus. E. Rinkēvičs condemned the repression carried out by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko against Belarusian civil society and the democratic opposition, as well as the hybrid attacks carried out by the regime against Latvia and other countries in the region, including the artificially created pressure of illegal migration and the use of meteorological balloons for smuggling.
The President of Latvia emphasised that pressure on Belarus must continue until the Belarusian regime fundamentally changes its policies. “Latvia’s position remains unchanged – sanctions against Russia and Belarus must continue, and measures must be taken to counter the circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia through Belarus,” the President stated. At the same time, E. Rinkēvičs positively assessed the efforts of the United States to secure the release of political prisoners.
