Penny Wong is meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus today.

As Matthew Knott in the SMH reports:

The European Parliament has declared Tikhanovskaya Belarus’ president-elect in the eyes of the Belarusian people and it recognises her cabinet-in-exile as the nation’s legitimate representatives. Belarus is the 16th most authoritarian country in the world, making it less free than Russia, according to The Economist’s democracy index.

“It’s a strategy of Russia to keep people stressed, intimidated, to keep people in fear,” the 43-year-old says in an Uber en route to her next event. “I think that for everyone who is opposing the regime, this feeling of fear is present every day, but our power, our strength, is to overcome it.”