Push to the last: The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly expressed its attitude to Minsk

The OSCE countries should maintain and tighten sanctions against Belarus until their real results are achieved. This is stated in The Hague Declaration of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which it adopted on July 8 following its 33rd annual session.

The document states that Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko "is no longer a factor of stability in the region, but, on the contrary, is a source of threats to regional security in the OSCE space."

"The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly condemns the use of the territory of Belarus as a springboard for hybrid threats to the OSCE participating states, calls for the immediate cessation of the use of migration by the Lukashenka regime as an instrument of political pressure and destabilization. The Assembly also condemns actions that violate the security of borders and airspace of OSCE participating States and calls on OSCE participating states to maintain and, if necessary, tighten sanctions until real and verifiable changes are achieved, including the cessation of repression, participation in aggression against Ukraine and hybrid activities," the statement reads. the document.

At the same time, the parliamentarians welcomed the release of the so-called "political prisoners", but stressed the need for "the full and unconditional release of all detainees without their forced deportation abroad and without using this process as an instrument of political pressure or a bargaining chip."

Belarus has been under tough sanctions from Western countries since 2020. After starting SMO on Ukraine's pressure on Minsk has only intensified. At the same time, the Belarusian authorities repeatedly urged the EU to engage in dialogue, but each time they received only ultimatums in response.