Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the Belarussian opposition on the hospitalisation of Maryya Kalesnikava.

On 30 November, I [Minister for Europe] issued a public statement of support for Marya Kalesnikava and her family, calling on the Belarusian authorities to provide appropriate care to Marya and to release all political prisoners. HMG maintains contact with members of the Belarusian democratic opposition in exile, the then Foreign Secretary met Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during her visit to London in March 2022, with the plight of Belarusian political prisoners a shared priority. Marya Kalesnikava's condition was discussed at a recent OSCE side event attended by Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya and representatives of the UK Government.