Bipartisan Wicker, Shaheen Resolution Backing Belarusian Freedom Passes Senate Unanimously

Statement

Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., co-chairs of the Free Belarus Caucus, issued the following statements after their bipartisan resolution reaffirming U.S. support for the Belarusian pro-democracy movement unanimously cleared the Senate yesterday:

"The United States Senate stands for freedom in Belarus," 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 Lukashenko: we are watching and there will be consequences for this malevolence," said Shaheen. "Lukashenko'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. Lukashenko 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, reaffirms bipartisan support in the Senate for the pro-democracy movement, free media, and the Belarusian people, and condemns Lukashenka's acts of transnational repression. The resolution is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin, D-Md., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.

Wicker and Shaheen 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. The launch of the caucus followed the Senators' meeting with Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

Last month, Wicker and Shaheen traveled with a bipartisan group of Senators to Ukraine to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine's pro-democratic aspirations and sovereignty against Russian aggression.