The European Union (EU) will provide another 30 million euros to the democratic forces in Belarus, which will be used, among other things, to support the independent media, the President of the European Commission (EC) Urzula von der Leiena said on Sunday.
“The EU is supporting the people of Belarus in their struggle for freedom and democracy. Today, we are increasing our support by providing an additional 30 million to young people, the independent media, small and medium-sized enterprises and cultural workers who have left the country,” Leiena said on Twitter.
On Sunday, the President of the European Commission met with the leader of the Belarusian opposition Sviatlan Cihanouska in Brussels.
Leiena reminded that the EU is ready to provide Belarus with three billion euros when the democratic transformation of the country begins.
“The people of Belarus have a legal right to determine the future of their country,” Leiena emphasized.
After the presidential elections in Belarus last August, in which the authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko was once again the winner, mass protests took over the country.
The protests were brutally suppressed by the authorities and gradually subsided by the winter.
Tens of thousands of people were detained during the protests. Hundreds of protesters were injured, but several were also killed.
As part of an extensive hybrid attack on the Lukashenko regime, efforts have been made in recent months to send thousands of illegal immigrants from Belarus to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, most of whom have arrived in Belarus as tourists from Iraq.
The EU has accused the Minsk regime of seeking to avenge support for the Belarusian opposition and of sanctions against Belarus in response to last year’s violent crackdown on protests.
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