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From: TT
Published:
Photo: Emil Helms / AP / TT
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya during a visit to Copenhagen on October 23.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde (S) will meet with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya in Stockholm on Tuesday.
“Sweden is among the countries that provide the most support to civil society and independent media in Belarus. How that support can be stepped up will also be discussed,” Linde says according to a press release.
Mass protests have been going on in Belarus since authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko declared himself the winner with 80 percent of the vote in the highly contested August 9 election. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians have demonstrated demanding the resignation of the president.
Tikhanovskaya, exiled in Lithuania, has become a unifying symbol of the democratic movement.
At the end of the year, Sweden will assume the chairmanship of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and wants to use the paper to promote mediation efforts between the opposition and the regime.
“During the meeting with Tichanovskaya, the way forward and how Sweden and the EU can contribute to a democratic development in the country will be discussed,” the Foreign Ministry writes in the press release.
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