Ivonka Survilla is bewildered with the criticism of the Vilnius Memorandum

Head of the Belarusan National Republic government in exile expressed surprise at the critical remarks received towards the Memorandum sighed by Belarusan political opposition in Vilnius, November, 3.

This Memorandum stated the intention to defence independence of Belarus and to coordinate the actions of the opposition so that to release all the political prisoners, stop persecution of the opposition and provide free elections.

The former deputy foreign minister, ex-presidential candidate and leader of an opposition group “European Belarus” Andrei Sannikau criticized Memorandum as “illiterate, harmful and dangerous”, BelTA reports.

"I examined this memorandum professionally and must say that documents are not made like this," - said Andrei Sannikau. "Those who read it could notice that this document was simply illiterate. And I believe that it is also dangerous because there're things in it that are directed not at defending the independence of Belarus but against it."  In addition, a representative of European Belarus was not allowed to attend the November 3 meeting, claimed the leader of the opposition group “European Belarus”. 
As Ivonka Survilla commented, she also has the necessary experience to assess documents dealing with international relations. "I do not for a second doubt the competence of those who worked on the draft, which wasn't one or two people," she said. 
According to her, participants at the meeting, "whose education is also beyond doubt," suggested reasonable corrections to the Memorandum, which helped make the final draft more acceptable to everyone. 
The head of the BNR Rada expressed hope that "Sannikau's expressive remarks are a result of his emotional state caused by the difficult situation he has found himself in with his family being held hostage in Minsk." (Let us recall that Andrei Sannikau has recently been granted political asylum in Britain).
Sannikau received a draft of the Memorandum several days before the meeting but failed to put forward any proposals, she said. He was even invited to participate in the meeting through Skype but refused to do that, she said. 

The BNR Rada calls on political parties and civil society organizations, including an opposition group “European Belarus”, to cooperate so that to defend independence of Belarus and restore democracy in Belarus, noted Ivonka Survilla.