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A ministry spokesman, Anatoly Hlaz, announced that 14 of the 25 diplomats must remain in the Lithuanian embassy and 18 of the 50 in the Polish embassy.
“Due to the apparently destructive activities of the aforementioned countries, they were offered to achieve parity in the composition of their diplomatic missions in Belarus with the foreign missions of Belarus in the respective countries before October 9, 2020,” Hlaz said.
According to A. Glas, it was “proposed” to compare the number of representatives of the diplomatic missions of Lithuania and Latvia with the number of Belarusian diplomats in these countries.
The Ministry has also announced that it will call its ambassadors from Lithuania and Poland for consultations from October 5.
“The Polish and Lithuanian ambassadors in Belarus are urged to follow this example,” Hlazas said. tut.by.
“I emphasize that we did not take these coercive measures without regret, we suffered for a long time and urged us to act wisely, just because of the special destructive role that the Polish and Lithuanian leaders decided to play in practice with regard to Belarus,” said a representative of the ministry.
It will not react in an analogous way
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius told reporters on Friday evening that Minsk’s decision was disappointing and irrational: “The Belarusian steps cross the branch they are sitting on. This country has a strong relationship with only one country. “
“This is not a requirement, it is a proposal,” the minister clarified, adding that he will await the next steps from Belarus. – The European External Action Service has certainly been informed. It is a desire to divide us, because so far only Lithuania and Poland have separated ”.
Vilnius does not plan a similar step: call the Lithuanian ambassador to Belarus for consultations. Actions are being coordinated with Poland.
L. Linkevičius stated that he had contacted Ambassador Andrius Pulokas on Thursday and emphasized that the decision in this case is not made by Belarus, but by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Photo by Lukas Balandus / 15min / Linas Linkevičius
What will the answer be? We are not going to invite diplomats for consultations, nor are we going to decide on personnel. Proposals will not yet be considered and we do not intend to take similar action. We are not interested in reducing communication, we will not take the initiative because we do not see any benefit in it.
Everyone’s goal is to have at least some kind of dialogue. If she fails with Belarus, then with those who can influence her. I speak first of Russia. Shrinking diplomatic channels shows weakness, not the other way around.
We do not believe that the decisions are rational, although they could have been expected, because we have heard threats more than once. The option of breaking diplomatic relations was even mentioned, ”taught L. Linkevičius.
Actively called for the introduction of sanctions
Mass protests in Belarus erupted on August 9 with the announcement of the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko as the country’s long-time president. The protests were forcibly put down, with around 12,000 detained since their inception. people.
Lithuania and Poland have called on the European Union (EU) to impose sanctions on regime officials responsible for vote rigging and violence against protesters.
The leaders of these countries strongly criticize Lukashenko, and Lithuania accepted and granted protection to Sviatlan Cichanouskaya, who was declared the winner of the elections.
VIDEO: Seventh weekend of protest in Belarus: thousands of people fill with tear gas, more than 260 arrested
Lithuania and Poland are also providing assistance to Belarusians affected by the regime.
Earlier on Friday, EU leaders said they had agreed to sanctions against members of the Lukashenko regime. For its part, Minsk announced retaliatory sanctions.
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