Monday, 13 December, 09.00am Via Zoom

Moderator:

Elena KorostelevaLink opens in a new window, Professor of Politics and Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick, Visiting Professor at the Oxford Belarus Observatory, University of Oxford.

Speakers:

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, National Leader of Belarus, Head of the United Transitional Cabinet

Urmas Reinsalu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Estonia

Nigel Gould-Davies, Senior Fellow for Russia & Eurasia, IISS & former UK Ambassador to Belarus

Dirk Schuebel, Ambassador at Large, EU Special Envoy to the Eastern Neighbourhood

Since the summer, Belarusian Democratic Forces have been reshaping themselves to better respond to the challenges within the country and the wider region. Some previous institutions, e.g. the Coordination Council, changed their structure, and a new collective body - the United Transitional Cabinet - has been created, under the continued leadership of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, with representations in Brussels, Vilnius and Warsaw, to promote the Belarusian agenda. Alongside these initiatives, new ways are continuously sought by the international community to keep focus on Belarusian issues, including deposing the illegitimate regime of Lukashenka, supporting democratic voices and all those imprisoned within the country, and assisting Belarusian volunteers in the war against the Russian aggression.

How can the United Democratic Forces promote their agenda internationally and what support do they have? What else could be done to make their struggle more effective? What additional resources are required to support Belarusians inside and outside the country? How does the international community deal with Belarus’s different international representation - the democratic forces led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Lukahsenka’s regime, within Belarus? How does ‘dvoevlastie’ (dual power) impact on the regime, and the country’s development? These questions will be discussed in a panel discussion organised by the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the Oxford Belarus Observatory.

Please register here.