Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses who are here for their testimony.
Obviously, the political situation in Belarus is of concern to our government and to Canadians. In addition to the problems that we see with the last election, of course, there is also the issue of Putin seeing Belarus as a borderland or perhaps even as a buffer against NATO. Certainly Putin has made no secret of Russia's intent to further integrate Belarus into its sphere of influence and possibly even integrate Belarus holus-bolus into Russia itself.
I wonder if you might expand upon the role that you see Canada and other NATO allies playing in order to further advance democracy in Belarus in view of the Belarusian people asking for free and fair elections.