aug.25(EIRNS) — On August 24 US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met with former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Vilnius, Lithuania While Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone call with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
“The Deputy Secretary also met with Belarusian opposition leader [Svetlana Tikhanovskaya] to discuss the situation in Belarus and how civil society can strengthen democracy and human rights in the country. The Deputy Secretary affirmed the U.S. commitment to Belarus’ sovereignty and territorial integrity and to the sovereign right of its people to elect their own leaders and determine their own future,” according to a State Department statement.
Obviously trying to heat up the situation Biegun also met with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis, and other officials to “discuss the situation in Belarus, countering threats posed by Russia and the People’s Republic of China, and the promotion of human rights and democracy."[dea]
In their telephone discussion, Belarusian President Lukashenko and Russian President Putin they discussed the situation in Belarus, “especially in the Western context".
“The heads of state discussed issues of combating the coronavirus infection. In this context, the presidents agreed that Belarusian citizens will voluntarily take part in the third stage of tests of the Russian-manufactured anti-coronavirus vaccine. Belarus will be the first country to be supplied with this vaccine,"Belarusan news agency BelTA reported.
This is the fourth telephone conversations between the two presidents since the crisis in Belarus began.
