Natallia Kaliada: We need Obama to speak up on Belarusian situation at last

The representatives of the Belarusian democratic movement Aliaksandr Kazulin, Julia Slutskaya, Eva Nyaklyaeva (Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu's daughter), Iryna Bahdanava (Andrej Sannikau's sister) conducted a series of important meetings with the high officials of the U.S. Government. An active participant of these meetings - the "Free Theatre" director Natallia Kaliada has spoken about their results in an exclusive interview to Euroradio. 

Euroradio: Where have you managed to be by this moment? Where has the Belarusian delegation shown itself?

Natallia Kaliada: “Our visit is over. It was a very productive one... We started our meetings from the U.S. Congress. The first meeting was with the Congressman Christopher Smith, who elaborated "The Act on Democracy in Belarus" . Now he will suggest it to the Congress for consideration again. We obtained support of other congressmen, who agree with the idea of the "Act on Democracy", as well as of John Boehner, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

We also conducted meetings in the U.S. Security Council. We spoke to the Senators Durbin, Cardin, Lieberman. These are people who deal with Belarus issues actively and thoroughly".

Euroradio: Were all these meetings equally important?

Natallia Kaliada: “Yes, as they covered different aspects of the U.S. Government's activity with regard to what is happening in Belarus now. This demonstrates the level of willingness to stop all this horror which is happening in Belarus”.

Euroradio: As for the events happening in Belarus - how did the U.S. Government react on the sentence to Vasil Parfiankou?

Natallia Kaliada: “This was a double shock for us. We found this out when we were at a meeting in the U.S. Department of State. We were discussing the details on how the U.S. can help Belarus, how strict should its position be to the regime which is in power in our country, when we were informed that Parfiankou had been sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment... There was one reaction of both sides - shock”.

Euroradio: Do you think that the United Sates will give some really critical reaction to what is happening in Belarus now?

Natallia Kaliada: “The "Act on Democracy" is not the only thing which is discussed at the moment, they also discuss the U.S. Congress' resolution. And this is the most important issue. As our entire group asked, and Aliaksandr Kazulin was the one to speak it up, that the election results should be considered non-legitimate, and that Aliaksandr Lukashenka should be considered a non-legitimate President. That a new presidential election should be conducted after all the political prisoners are released and all the accusations against them are withdrawn. We also said that we needed President Obama to speak about the situation in Belarus at last”.

Euroradio: What about sanctions?

Natallia Kaliada: “Sanctions is the topic which was elaborated in Washington after the visits that happened before. Sanctions were imposed a week after I had held a speech in the U.S. Senate, on January 31. If the Europeans betrayed the Belarusians once again, thinking about their own geo-political interests exclusively: about the warmth in their houses and the comfort of driving their cars - the American Government imposed economic sanctions”.

Euroradio: Are there any hopes for increase of financial support to the Belarusian democratic forces?

Natallia Kaliada: “Definitely! However, we said, from our side, that such support should be targeted, that it should go to the organizations which really work, not to the organizations which simply need to survive, as it was before. Only something which really can influence the situation should be supported. Now! Media both inside the country and abroad should be strongly supported... As people in Belarus sometimes do not know what is happening in their own country!

We also spoke about the campaign Free Belarus Now. It will now start in London upon the initiative of the political prisoners' families. Tom Stoppard, Václav Havel support this campaign... The "Free Theatre" has collected a huge number of contacts with the people of art and all of them are doing their best to achieve release of Belarusian political prisoners now”.

Euroradio: Speaking about the "Free Theatre". What is your troop doing now, do you give many performances, do they have a success?

Natallia Kaliada: “We are working! We have started working on new projects. Performances are given every day. All the tickets are sold out, as it has always been all around the world, including Australia and Asia. The audience here is very nice, people endlessly support us and take deep interest in what is happening in Belarus now.

Besides, we are giving a performance on February 21. It will be the last performance in our Chicago tour. It is dedicated to all those who are now in the KGB prison, or under house arrest. To all the people who face violence which is now taking place in Belarus. Thus, we are working, as always, we are creating and conveying the knowledge about our country and its art, through our performances”.