"I spoke with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya over the phone,” Morawiecki said on Twitter on Monday evening.
“I assured her that the people of Belarus had Poland’s full support in their pursuit of freedom …,” he said.
He also pledged help for Belarusians living in Poland.
He added: “Today, 40 years after the August Agreements, we need this kind of solidarity again," he said, referring to Poland’s landmark 1980 August Agreements, when the country’s former communist government was forced to sit at a negotiating table with striking workers.
Earlier in the day, Belarus’ Tsikhanouskaya said she was ready to lead her nation and called for the establishment of a legal framework to hold a new fair presidential election, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo: PAP/Anna Ivanova
Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Minsk and other cities in Belarus in recent days to contest the widely-disputed re-election victory of the country’s strongman president, Alexander Lukashenko, news agencies have reported.
The official results of the August 9 election handed Lukashenko, in power for more than a quarter of a century, an 80 percent share of the vote, while Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko's main electoral opponent, took around 10 percent, the Reuters news agency reported.
Alexander Lukashenko addresses supporters during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on Sunday, August 16, 2020. Photo: EPA/YAUHEN YERCHAK
The Polish prime minister said at the end of last week that his country would seek to support its neighbour Belarus by opening its borders and labour market while providing financial support to civil society after a violent crackdown on post-election protests.
Poland’s “Solidarity with Belarus” plan, estimated to initially cost around PLN 50 million (EUR 11 million, USD 13 million), would also include scholarships for academics and funding for the independent media, Morawiecki told the Polish parliament on Friday.
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Source: IAR, TVP, Reuters