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According to the spokesman for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rasa Jakilaitienė, Lithuania has decided to withdraw five diplomats, hoping that this will allow the dialogue to continue. Minsk demanded the expulsion of eleven diplomats.
Lithuania has previously withdrawn its ambassador due to pressure from Minsk for consultations.
At the same time, Lithuania warned the Belarusian Foreign Ministry that it would take retaliatory measures if Minsk continued to aggravate the situation.
“It is important for us that the work of our embassy in Minsk and the consulate in Grodno is interrupted as little as possible. This is necessary not only to perform consular functions, grant visas to Belarusian citizens, maintain contact with the diaspora, but also to communicate with Belarusian civil society, ”R. Jakilaitienė told BNS on Friday.
“Belarus has made categorical demands to drastically reduce the number of accredited Lithuanian diplomats; it has demanded the expulsion of eleven,” he said.
“To reduce tensions, we have decided, together with Poland, to invite our ambassadors to consultations in capitals and thus preserve the possibility of new diplomatic relations,” said R. Jakilaitienila.
“After evaluating various circumstances and risks, we decided to withdraw five more Lithuanian diplomats, hoping that this step will be sufficient to maintain the opportunities for dialogue,” said the minister’s representative.
“We have emphasized to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry that appropriate retaliatory measures will be taken if Belarus continues to rise. Once again, we note that the hostile step of the current Belarusian government regarding the reduction of diplomatic contacts only contributes further to self-isolation. from Minsk, ”said R. Jakilaitienė.
In order to reduce tensions, we decided together with Poland to invite our ambassadors to capitals for consultations, thus preserving the possibility of continuing diplomatic relations.
Belarus last week called its ambassadors from Lithuania and Poland and demanded that they reduce the number of diplomatic staff in Minsk.
In solidarity with Lithuania and Poland, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania also called their ambassadors for consultations.
Lithuania and Poland have assumed diplomatic leadership in the European Union so that the West does not recognize the victory of Aliaksandr Lukashenko in the rigged presidential elections and supports the protesters who demand democratic change.
Lithuania has also imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and is calling for him to be blacklisted by the entire European Union.
Protests against the Lukashenko regime have been taking place in Belarus for two months, despite the regime’s severe crackdown on protesters.
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