Swedish Politician Invited by Opposition Not Allowed in Belarus

According to Chairman of the Brest regional organization of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) Igor Maslovski, the embassy didn’t reason the visa denial to Lars Ove Yangsonu, BelaPAN.

During the visit, scheduled for January 19 - 23, Lars Ove Yangson had expected to meet with the Belarusian colleagues, as well as to share experiences and discuss promising directions of further cooperation in educational and cultural spheres (it has already lasted for more than 10 year).

Igor Maslovski says that the position of the Belarusian Embassy in Sweden has already several times denied visas to Swedish politicians. It’s become a kind of discrimination against the Social Democrats. In addition, the head of the regional organization of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party points out to a negative image of Belarus in the eyes of the international community due to these facts, which is bad for Belarus' relations with Sweden and the EU countries.

As Telegraf previously reported, in September 2011, four members of Swedish delegation, heading to Brest for a meeting with representatives of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), were refused in visa support in Belarus. The delegation included representatives of the Swedish Parliament from the Social Democratic Party.

In December, four members of the Norwegian and Danish PEN centers faced with the same problem. On arrival at the airport "Minsk-2," they paid a visa fee for opening visas, but were not granted them in the end.