They were waiting for her in Kiev
The Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU) took offense at Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The reason was that over the past year she has never visited Kiev and allegedly does not support Belarusians who fled from the regime to this country. The press secretary of the ex-presidential candidate Anna Krasulina explained to us that for such a visit, an invitation from the Ukrainian side is first necessary. According to political analyst Ruslan Bortnik, Kiev is not in a hurry with this step, fearing to break off trade relations with Minsk.
Photo: facebook.com/S.Tsikhanouskaya.
In the summer, the head of the BDU, Vitaly Shishov, died, the investigation has not yet been able to determine whether it was suicide or murder disguised as suicide. The text of the BDU’s message to Tikhanovskaya was recorded in the summer, when Shishov was alive, but they decided to publish it only now. “Svetlana Georgievna, don’t you think it’s time to show up? Now is the perfect moment toto promote the interests of the people not only in the EU and the USA, which do so much for Belarusians, but also in Ukraine,” the organization said in a statement. It emphasizes that the Belarusian migrants did not receive any assistance from the Tikhanovskaya headquarters, despite the fact that Ukraine is the main “transit point” for most of the “regime fugitives”.
Tikhanovskaya announced her intention to go to Kiev in October last year, but the official visit never happened. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba stated that before Tikhanovskaya’s trip, it would be necessary to determine her position on “Russian aggression against Crimea.” Later, in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, she answered Kuleb’s question that Crimea is Ukraine, but there was either no invitation to visit the country, or it was not reported.
MK talked about this with press secretary of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Anna Krasulina.
– According to the diplomatic protocol, the receiving party first informs about the visit, – explains Krasulina. – In this case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and after that, the guest party can already declare it. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya will visit Ukraine when it coincides with her schedule and when official high-level meetings are agreed to be able to resolve issues of bilateral relations and assistance to Belarus.
– Indeed, there were such plans, but so far they have not been brought to implementation. This is also influenced by force majeure circumstances – for example, other meetings may be scheduled that change schedules, and planning has to start over. In addition, anti-weed measures have a serious impact. It is clear that now personal contacts are minimized, and much happens on an online basis. Therefore, there is nothing to be offended about. Work on planning visits is ongoing, as soon as the trip to Ukraine is agreed, this will be immediately reported.
– There is. Moreover, this connection is permanent. There are chat rooms for communicating with diasporas, including representatives of the diaspora in Ukraine. Weekly calls are held. To be honest, I haven’t seen anyone complain. But if this is the case, then let them apply directly, we will discuss it. Perhaps the person just didn’t find a way to contact us.
As explained by “MK” Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Policy Analysis and Management Ruslan Bortnik the Belarusian diaspora in Ukraine is quite fragmented. “There are several groups that compete with each other. The Diaspora does not represent any integral association and does not play a serious role in Ukrainian politics either. There are probably hundreds of thousands of Belarusians living on the territory of Ukraine, but the new wave of migration was not very significant, I think we are talking about a thousand people.”
According to him, Kiev may not send an invitation to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya because of the risk of aggravating relations with Minsk and terminating trade relations. “Although Ukraine has very bad relations with Belarus, it continues to be one of its key trading partners. In addition, Ukraine receives electricity from Belarus. Tikhanovskaya’s invitation could further aggravate Ukrainian-Belarusian relations, and Ukraine is in no hurry to take this step. Although, perhaps, no one has yet figured out that it can be done,” the expert concluded.