LITHUANIA, March 21 - Шановний пане Руслане Стефанчук, Шаноўная спадарыня Святлана Ціханоўская Dear Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Dear colleagues and friends,

This year, Konstanty Kalinowski Forum happens to come at a particularly poignant time. We have long lived under a looming premonition of an impending tragedy, but many did not expect or did not want to believe that a gruesome, open war could indeed take place in 21st century Europe. It’s been about a month now that Russia launched a brutal and cruel assault on Ukraine. The truth is, however, that Russia’s war against Ukraine started much earlier - eight years ago, to be exact. Keeping a close eye on the regimes in the Kremlin and Minsk, we saw, and those who didn’t, I hope, have finally come to see that dictators, if unchallenged, continue to thrive and become a bigger bully. The suffering they cause is relentless and growing. They have killed and trampled both their own people as well as the hated nations they shamelessly and blatantly chose to call ‘brotherly’. We have long been ringing the alarm bells about all the 'red lines' having been crossed and the bottom reached, but it is obvious that the bloodthirsty dictators have only sneered at our statements and toothless sanctions, as they seem to understand only the language of power.

This power today is represented by the heroic, freedom loving nation—the Ukrainians. The nation that shows to the world that evil and cruelty are not omnipotent, and that terrorism must be countered and freedom defended at all costs.

Today, Ukraine is fighting bravely not only for itself but for the whole free world. This struggle is, in fact, a global game changer, and in the end, Ukraine will win. Otherwise, it will not be the end. It may seem a banal truth, but it is a truth that I hope the whole civilized world has finally come to see.

But while the eyes of this world are naturally and inevitably focused on the struggle of good over evil in Ukraine, we must not forget the other unfinished struggles. Last year, I spoke in this Chamber that the struggle of Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish hero Konstanty Kalinowski would be alive until all the three nations are free. Until Belarus is free.

Konstanty Kalinowski fought with a weapon in his hands, but he also fully understood the essential thing that the most important revolutions must take place in people’s minds and hearts. We already witnessed the revolution in the minds and hearts of Belarusians back in August 2020. The revolution in Belarus was suppressed but not defeated. Kalinowski’s struggle is alive in the hearts of the Belarusian people - but not yet won however.

Today, the dictator of Belarus, a coward who calls himself the president of Belarus, has not only imprisoned or deported his free people. He betrayed his nation definitively and irreversibly, turning Belarus—not the real one but the one he is still trying to keep in a clenched fist—into an ally of the Kremlin’s aggression and a bridgehead of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Not long ago, the whole world was amazed seeing Belarusians stop at the red traffic light in the heat of the protests or take off their shoes and lay the newspaper before stepping on a public bench. Today, rockets are flying from Belarus onto Ukrainian children and women, hospitals and schools. Lukashenka has let the Kremlin occupiers in hoping for his own survival. And he keeps praying that Putin doesn’t send Belarusian troops to fight the Ukrainian brothers - not because he is opposed to the war waged by Russia. But for fear that there will be no one left to defend him against his own people in Belarus.

The 24th of February, the day when we woke up to a new reality, also happened to hit the calendar as the day of mourning for Russians and Belarusians around the world too, because the two dictators not only have spread terror over Ukraine but also soaked their own nations in blood that will not be easy to wash.

The 24th of February is the day when the comfortable illusion of neutrality was shattered. All the nations of the world had to answer a question: what do you choose – on whose side are you?

It hurts, but the vast majority of Russian citizens remained passive even after the brutal war broke out. Intimidation and the all-encompassing propaganda apparatus are clearly showing results. OMON’s severe repressions have silenced Belarusians too – but only in Belarus. Not in the free world. The free people and the leaders of the free Belarus did not hesitate to choose the side of truth and good. For they understand that war leaves no time for hesitation and doubt. And that standing aside is no longer an option. It is imperative to make a decision that will determine, for a long time to come, whether the Belarusian nation will be the one that embodies a struggle for its freedom alongside Ukrainians, or the one personified by Lukashenka trying to please a more powerful master and ready to condemn his own nation to shame and suffering as a result of that.

I am glad that today the hearts of our nations—Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and free Belarusians—are beating as one. Ukrainians’ pain is our pain, and we are celebrating their victories as our own, too. Ukraine is fighting for us all without sparing itself and sacrificing everything it has. We must do the same. Because it is the struggle that makes us stronger, that makes us worthy of our own freedom.

In Vilnius, Warsaw, and other capitals of the world, Belarusians—along with Lithuanians, Poles, and all the people of the free world—took to the streets again, carrying flags of a free, democratic Belarus. To support Ukraine and also to show that this war by the regimes of Putin and Lukashenka is not their war. Belarusians who have fled the terror of the regime are resolutely helping Ukrainians and contributing to Ukraine’s victory in this war. They are opening their homes to Ukrainian war refugees in Lithuania and in other countries. They are donating money, food, and basic necessities to Ukrainians – as is doing anyone with a heart and conscience.

Free Belarusians are fighting. Every day. Not only the fight of Ukraine but also that of their own, patiently repeating to everyone: I am a Belarusian, but I am not part of Belarus usurped by Lukashenka. Me and you, a fellow Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Westerner – we are of one blood. Freedom flows through my veins, just like through yours.

That is why the mission of a democratic Belarus is gaining an ever-greater importance today. And today, as we support Ukraine and its freedom, it is crucial not to forget all those who are striving for a free and democratic Belarus.

The Western world has long talked about fundamental democratic values and the value of freedom, and now it has an opportunity—and the duty—to demonstrate, not in words but in deeds, that these values matter more than material comfort and routine patterns of operation. We have this obligation to Ukraine, but we must not forget a similar obligation to Belarus either.

Putin’s aggression and Ukraine’s push back, stronger than many have expected (except for Ukrainians themselves), has shown the world that dictators are oftentimes but giants with feet of clay. They are more vulnerable than they want to appear. Let us come together and speed up the agony of the dictators. Let us accelerate the victory of a free Ukraine and a free Belarus.

Слава Украïнi! Живе Беларусь!