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SUPPORTS THE OPPOSITION: Erna Solberg and Lithuanian Norwegian Ambassador Ole Terje Horpestad together with opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaja in Vilnius on Tuesday. Photo: Helge Mikalsen
VILNIUS (VG) Erna Solberg reacts harshly to the fact that one of the Belarusian opposition leaders disappeared on the border with Ukraine on Tuesday night, the Norwegian Prime Minister describes the incident as kidnapping or kidnapping.
Maria Kolesnikova is said to have been arrested by Belarusian security forces when she objected to being expelled from the country and forced to cross into Ukraine on the other side of the border.
The Belarusian authorities first reported that Kolesnikova was trying to flee. This is in stark contrast to what the border guard on the Ukrainian side says: that she destroyed her own passport to prevent her being expelled from Belarus.
– She was kidnapped, said opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaja after a meeting with Erna Solberg at the Norwegian embassy in Vilnius on Tuesday afternoon.
MEET THE OPPOSITION LEADER: Erna Solberg met with Svetlana Tikhanovskaja at the Norwegian Embassy in Vilnius on Tuesday.
– We still don’t know where it is. This is not normal in the heart of Europe in the 21st century, he added.
Kolesnikova is one of the main leaders in the uprising against President Alexander Lukashenko after he overthrew the elections four weeks ago.
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Erna Solberg and Svetlana Tikhanovskaja spoke together for an hour.
– We are impressed with you, Solberg told the Belarusian rebel leader after the meeting.
On leaving, Tikhanovskaya wrote a few words in the guestbook of the ambassador’s residence:
Criticize the regime
– I think there are reasons for all of us to strongly criticize what has happened, that the regime is trying to get its critics out of the country: that the peaceful opposition figures who do not use violence and who only claim their right to free choice , they experience being kidnapped or tried to be sent, Solberg tells VG.
– Oppressing your people is not a lasting solution, he adds.
– The largest demonstrations occurred after the violence against protesters after the August elections. That’s when the mothers and grandmothers came out, and that’s when the industrial workers stopped working, she explains.
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MASKE-BAKKE: Erna Solberg traveled to Lithuania together with Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen. The first stop was a meeting with 120 Norwegian soldiers from the Telemark battalion in NATO service in the country. Photo: HELGE MIKALSEN
Isolated head of state
Erna Solberg adds that there are signs that President Lukashenko is becoming more isolated, but that he is also cutting off contact with the outside world.
Gitanas Neuseda, President of Lithuania, has offered to mediate in Belarus, but the invitation has not been answered. Lukashenko also does not answer the phone when Neuseda tries to call. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has experienced the same:
– As Svetlana said, the pressure is great now. That the situation is difficult, we understand when Lukashenko does not even answer the phone when Merkel calls, says Solberg.
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MEET THE PRESIDENT; Erna Solberg in a meeting with Gitanas Nauseda, President of Lithuania, on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: HELGE MIKALSEN
Soldiers preparing for combat
Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told VG that Belarus has put military forces on high alert on the border with Lithuania in the last month.
There have also been border violations:
– We are not comfortable when the leader of the neighboring country tries to divert the focus from his own problems and invent foreign enemies, says Karoblis.
It points out that the President of Belarus, Lukashenko, has declared that NATO is ready to intervene in the country from Lithuania.
