Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to support democratic forces in Belarus.

Since the flawed elections of 2020, the UK has consistently supported the efforts of the democratic opposition in its peaceful struggle to realise the democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus. On 11 July, the UK, alongside other partners, invoked the OSCE Vienna Mechanism to hold the Belarusian authorities to account over the treatment of political prisoners in Belarus. Most recently, the UK invited Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to meet with European leaders, including with the Foreign Secretary and myself [Minister Doughty], in the margins of the European Political Community summit at Blenheim palace on 18 July.