18 September 2024, Warsaw Krasiński Palace
Mr. President
Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ladies and gentlemen Ministers
Your Excellencies
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
But I know that I am not alone, that Belarusians are not alone. After all, along with responsibility, we also feel great support.
This is a powerful motivation for me personally and for everyone who fights for democracy in Belarus.
I thank the Chapter of the Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Award, Mr. President, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, His Excellency Radosław Sikorski for your initiative to award the award to a Belarusian. I perceive this as an important strategic signal about the priority of democratic changes in Belarus for Poland's foreign policy. Thank you very much, Mr. Minister.
I thank everyone who fights for Belarus. In this hall, I would especially like to thank former presidential candidates of Belarus Aliaksandr Milinkevich and Uladzimir Niakliayeu, the outstanding Belarusian historian Uladzimir Arlou, the representative of the Belarusian minority in Poland Jauhen Wapa, and everyone present at the ceremony today for the fact that we are sharing this important event together.
Thank you to everyone who supports the struggle of Belarusians for freedom and democracy. Solidarity is an incredible force.
I want to express words of support and solidarity with Poland in these difficult days. With all the Poles affected by the flood. And words of admiration for the solidarity of the Polish people. Our hearts are with you.
And Poland is an example of how the power of solidarity changes the course of history. Many Belarusians draw inspiration from the Lech Wałęsa Solidarity movement.
And it is a great honor for me to be awarded the award named after the man who changed the course of European history.
The victory of Polish Solidarity is a victory for all of Europe. Of which Belarus is a part.
And I believe that Belarusian Solidarity, the rise of which we all saw in 2020, will also win. I believe because we have your example and your support.
Poland is a strategic partner for democratic Belarus. Today – for democratic forces and society. Tomorrow – for a democratic state. And this tomorrow will come faster than it may seem. Our common tomorrow.
Let me tell you a personal story.
When I was a teenager and a school student, we lived in the same room with my older brother, who, unfortunately, is no longer in this world. And he listened to Polskie Radio, Program Pierwszy, news and, as I remember now, Magazyn Muzyczny Rytm all the time, every day. I remember hearing the song “O Magdaleno” then. I don’t know if anyone here remembers this song, but that’s why I’m telling you about it. Back then, when I saw my brother buying Polish newspapers – yes, at that time you could only buy “Trybuna Ludu”, it was the 80s – but then my desire to learn the language of the neighboring country was born. Then the culture, the history. And I realized how deeply we are connected. Belarus is part of the European historical and cultural heritage.
Later, as the Minister of Culture, I had the honor of carrying out the restoration of the Nesvizh Palace, Mir Castle – the former residences of the Radziwills, UNESCO monuments. To support the creation of the Czeslaw Niemen Museum. As an ambassador, to initiate the opening of the Adam Mickiewicz monument in Minsk. This is what is in Belarus and belongs to Belarusian history and culture. And this is what simultaneously connects us, Belarusians and Poles.
There are many more such examples and connections. We are connected by a common European history. After all, Belarus is a European country, Belarusians are a European people. Belarus is not Russia.
And our common European history must continue.
It is all the more important to have strategic allies on this path – the path of Belarus's return to European space, to the European family.
I am convinced that strategic partnership with Poland, with the EU as a whole, will be a priority for a free democratic Belarus.
Its beginning has already been made – Poland is already our key partner and ally, Poland's contribution to supporting Belarusian democratic forces and the democratic aspirations of Belarusians is invaluable. We are grateful to the Polish government and Polish society for the assistance provided to Belarusians who are forced to leave their homeland due to mass repressions. And all this is a huge reserve for the future, the future of a full-fledged strategic partnership – a partnership at the state level.
I have no doubt that this future will come.
Because I, like millions of Belarusians, believe in democracy. Even when some European democracies doubt themselves.
My message to such countries is to be extremely careful in your doubts.
People like Lukashenko are born from the public's doubts about democratic values. If you doubt democracy, you risk very quickly falling into their power.
They will take away your freedom, rights and dignity. They will set your countries back in development for decades, exchanging it for dependence on cheap Russian energy.
I know that you are already seeing and hearing such words. Be careful. These are signs that democracy is in danger. The Polish people know very well how difficult it is to fight for it, how difficult it is to acquire it. Belarusians, unfortunately, know how easy it is to lose it. And what price we have to pay to get it back.
Lukashenko's regime has committed hundreds of thousands (!) of crimes against humanity in Belarus, including murders, mass torture, rape with police batons of women, men, children, mass deportations.
Only 4 years after the events of 2020, he plunged the country into the most massive repressions that Europe has not seen in the last 50 years. This is a permanent repressive hell that does not stop for a single day. On the contrary, all reports from human rights activists say that the repressions only continue to escalate.
There are currently 1,330 officially recognized political prisoners in the regime's prisons. Among them are Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, journalist and activist of the Polish minority Andrzej Poczobut, former presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich, linguist Natalia Dulina, and socio-political activist Maria Kalesnikava. It would take hours to list them all...
And this is only the situation inside Belarus. But the regime's crimes have gone far beyond its borders. Poland feels it first-hand. Sabotage. Espionage. Information warfare and cyberattacks. Repression of the Polish national minority. The migration crisis, which has been going on since 2021 and which has already resulted in casualties among the Polish military. The blood of the deceased Polish soldier, Mateusz Sitek, is on Lukashenko's hands.
Let's call a spade a spade – the Lukashenko’s regime is waging a real hybrid war against Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and the European Union. And it began to destroy the regional security system long before February 2022.
And what happened next? An act of aggression. Yes, this is how international law interprets the provision of territory and infrastructure for a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine by the Lukashenko’s regime. The massacre in the Kyiv region, all that blood – on the hands of the Lukashenko’s regime. More than 800 missile strikes on Ukraine from the territory of Belarus – on the hands of the Lukashenko’s regime. The transfer and production of weapons, helping Russia bypass sanctions, organizing a war crime: the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus – this is what the Lukashenko’s regime is still doing.
Someone will tell you – "not everything is so clear-cut". And someone will go further and say that all this should be treated "pragmatically". After all, this is supposedly Realpolitik.
But is anyone present really ready to agree that in the 21st century, in Europe, a totalitarian dictatorship is being built, mass repressions are taking place, mass crimes against humanity and war crimes are being committed?
I am sure that I will not see any raised hands in the hall. And that means that today, from this hall, Lukashenko should receive a message:
Dictator, do you want to turn the page? No. Your book is already over.
Today, a bandit is in power in Belarus. He commits 3 out of 4 of the most serious international crimes. There are entire volumes of evidence of Lukashenko's crimes. But the tools are in the hands of our partners in democratic countries.
I urge you to use them. Lukashenko should be put on the international wanted list. Accountability must follow. It is important to restore the faith of Belarusians in justice and in the effectiveness of democracy.
They say that you can't choose your neighbors. But that's not entirely true. United Europe has this opportunity – to choose. To choose which Belarus you will live next to.
I am addressing our European partners. If there were a democratic government in Minsk today, there might not have been a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. If today you buy Lukashenko's lies and leave Belarusians alone in the fight against his regime, then war could come to the European Union.
Lukashenko's regime is a permanent threat to European security. This is a fact. But the key to security in Europe also lies in Belarus. In a democratic Belarus.
The majority of Belarusians do not support the war and do not support Lukashenko. The potential for democratic change in Belarus, the potential of Belarusian society is much higher than in Russia. And we are aware that the future of Belarus is in the hands of the Belarusian people.
At the beginning of my speech, I said: accepting this award is a great honor. But it is also a great responsibility.
I am grateful that Belarusians have someone to share it with. After all, our common history is our common responsibility. We are writing it together. The history of the future – an independent, democratic and European Belarus.
I dedicate this award to my father Pavel and my older brother Andrei Latushka, who fought for a free Belarus until the last day of their lives. To my cousin Anatoly Latushka, a political prisoner. I owe it to them to continue the fight. And to see it through to the end.
Long live Belarus!
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