"We had the honor of hosting Natalya Pinchuk, the wife of the head of the Viasna human rights center, Nobel Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, and Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya at a meeting with diplomats in Vilnius.

We call on the authorities of Minsk to release all political prisoners and wait for the day when Belarusians will be able to return home safely.

We also thank Lithuania for the fact that it gave shelter to many who were forced to leave Belarus because their freedom and security were at risk," the US Embassy said in a statement.

The day before, Tsikhanovskaya and Pinchuk spoke online at the Second Summit for Democracy, which is being held in Washington under the patronage of US President

.

He later commented on the Belarusian women's speeches as follows:

"We just heard from two incredible women who are doing an incredible thing for Belarus.

They deserve, like all women, to be represented."