The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, met yesterday at La Moncloa with the main opposition leader to Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus, Svletana Tikhanokskaya, to whom he conveyed Spain’s support for “a solution based on inclusive national dialogue, followed by elections supervised by the OSCE.”
“Spain and Belarus may be far apart geographically, but we feel more united than ever in the defense of the values and principles” that Svletana Tikhanokskaya represents, said Sánchez during the meeting, which took place on the margins of the International Conference Women’s Bridges. Proposals from the South for global change.
Likewise, the head of the Executive conveyed to the opposition leader the support of the Government of Spain to the democratic opposition movement in Belarus, Moncloa informed in a press release. “We share the belief in a solution based on inclusive national dialogue, followed by elections supervised by the OSCE,” he said. This is the third occasion that President Sanchez has met with Tikhanovskaya since 2020. “To receive her is to receive the free and resisting Belarus in the face of unprecedented repression in Europe since the end of the Cold War,” he said.
The opposition leader will receive next May 26 the Charlemagne Prize for her commitment and defense of the European project. She has also already been awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, also met with Svletana Tikhanokskaya, to whom he conveyed Spain’s support “for the aspirations of her people to democracy and freedom,” the head of Spanish diplomacy reported via his official Twitter account. “He has conveyed to me that the vast majority of his citizens reject his country’s participation in the Russian aggression against Ukraine,” he added.
Nearly 95,000 Ukrainians assisted in Spain and more than 100,000 requests for protection
On the other hand, the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, chaired yesterday the twelfth meeting of the National Security Situation Committee which analyzes the evolution of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its repercussions at international and national level. At this new meeting of the committee, the progress of the working groups created within the Committee was reported.
The humanitarian crisis caused by the war has already left some 6.3 million people displaced outside Ukraine and more than eight million displaced inside the country. In Spain, 94,988 people have been assisted since the beginning of the invasion and to date 104,203 requests for temporary protection have been registered, 37% of which are from minors. It is estimated that more than 21,000 minors have been enrolled in school.
