Resolution supports opposition movement to Lukashenko Regime.
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), co-chairs of the Free Belarus Caucus, founded and lead the Free Belarus Caucus in the Senate, which includes a bipartisan group of seven other Senators who advocate for democracy and free and fair elections in Belarus.
Yesterday, a bipartisan resolution reaffirming U.S. support for the Belarusian pro-democracy movement unanimously cleared the Senate.
“The United States Senate stands for freedom in Belarus,” Senator Wicker said. “We will continue to send an unmistakable message to Lukashenko, his cronies, and his patron Vladimir Putin that their repressive regime is a blight on a free Europe. The Senate will continue working to advance free and fair elections, a free press, and a better future for Belarus.”
“The unanimous support in the Senate for our bipartisan resolution sends a resounding message from the United States to Lukashenka: we are watching and there will be consequences for this malevolence,” said Senator Shaheen. “Lukashenka’s gross human rights abuses, which includes the incarceration of over 1,000 political prisoners, cannot go without response from the United States and the global community. His dangerous deployment of hybrid warfare and emboldening of Putin’s escalating violence and aggression undermines our global stability and the national security of our allies and partners. Lukashenka must be held to account and the United States and our allies need to be prepared to do so.”
The resolution calls for free and fair elections and reaffirms bipartisan support in the Senate for the pro-democracy movement. It also advocates for free media and the Belarusian people, and condemns Lukashenka’s recent acts of transnational repression.
In August 2021, Wicker and Shaheen led a group of lawmakers in the resolution.
U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) are cosponsors of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is available here.
