Petra Bayr, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has urged Europe not to forget Belarus, saying that European security cannot be guaranteed without a democratic Belarus and a democratic Russia.

“And while the world’s attention rightly stays on Ukraine, we must not forget about Belarus. Authoritarianism hopes to exhaust our attention. We must not allow it to succeed.

The democratic representatives of Belarus are contributing actively to our work in spite of all efforts of Mr Alexander Lukashenko’s regime to undermine its credibility and to damage its effectiveness,” Bayr said during the opening of PACE’s summer session on June 22.

Bayr stressed that Belarus and Russia would continue to pose a threat to Europe until democratic change takes place in both countries.

“We engage with democratic forces from Russia and from Belarus to help them build foundations for their future countries where human rights and the rule of law are not just foreign concepts but integral terms and elements of their identity.

But we also do this for us as European security will not be guaranteed without a democratic Belarus and a democratic Russian Federation and unless profound changes happen in these two countries, they will continue to be a threat not only to Europe but also to their own citizens,” the PACE president said.