VILNIUS — President Joe Biden, met on Wednesday with the leader of the opposition Belarusian in exile, Svetlana Tijanóvskaya, in Vilnius, where a NATO summit devoted mainly to the war in Ukraine was being held, the White House reported.
Tijanóvskaya, whose husband is imprisoned in Belarus, became the elections presidential elections of 2020 – whose results were questioned – in the main opposition of his country, an ally of Moscow and led with an iron fist by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994.
Like thousands of her compatriots, she was forced into exile after the elections, to escape the repression exercised by the authorities.
During their meeting, Biden expressed the “continued commitment of the United States to the defense and advancement of human rights, such as freedom of expression and the holding of free and fair elections in Belarus,” the White House explained in a statement.
The meeting came after Lukashenko mediated last month between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to reach an agreement ending the paramilitary rebellion in Russia.
A few days ago, Tikhanovskaya warned that her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, might have died while in detention.
The opponent’s husband was sentenced in December 2021 to 18 years in prison, a sentence considered by some as political revenge for having challenged Lukashenko.
Biden also met with the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida Simonyte, with whom he insisted on the “strong bilateral relationship” that unites the two countries.
The US president arrived in Finland, a NATO member since last April, on Wednesday night for a 24-hour visit. There he will close his European tour that, before Vilnius, took him to London.
FOUNTAIN: PA
