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“The European Union regulation on restrictive measures establishes three reasons why funds can be unfrozen. These are agreements concluded before the application of sanctions, before the entry into force of sanctions, as well as legal services and essential life services of the sanctioned people ”, said M. Adomėnas to Eltai.
ELTA recalls that the situation of the Belarusian sanatorium was also criticized by the Presidency. Asta Skaisgirytė, the president’s senior adviser on foreign policy, said last week that the responsible authorities must urgently resolve the situation related to the unpaid wages of the employees of the Belorus sanatorium in Druskininkai.
The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs affirms that the permission to repay the debt to the electronic store that sells online services “I want to want”, to the public services and to pay the salaries of the January employees was granted on the basis of the aforementioned Regulation of the EU on restrictive measures.
“In this case, we have a situation in which said company, which sold online tickets, online services, had made advance payments to the sanatorium, for which no services were provided. The payments were made before the sanctions took effect, so the return (funds – ELTA) was allowed, ”said M. Adomėnas.
“Likewise, exceptions have been made for salaries and public services, since this is done under commitments, contracts that are in force before the sanctions come into effect,” he added.
Responding to the president’s criticism of the “very slow” decisions of the Ministry in deciding on the payment of salaries to the sanatorium, M. Adomėnas said that the decision to allow the payment of salaries was made only last week, because the Belarusian sanatorium do not fail to provide detailed accounting data for a long time.
“The decision was made last week because the sanatorium did not provide detailed accounting documents for a long time and only provided the full amount. From this we cannot be sure that we are only talking about wages and that there is no attempt to circumvent the sanctions regime. When the detailed accounting material was presented, they were authorized to pay them for January, ”he explained.
The deputy minister said that after the sanatorium has prepared the documentation regarding the detailed accounting data for February, the employees will also be able to pay this month’s wages.
Mr. Adomėnas also points out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only allows the bank, which applies sanctions directly, to cool the funds in order to fulfill the necessary obligations. According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not know if all the salaries of the institution’s employees are paid.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs authorizes a bank that directly applies sanctions to unfreeze funds in accordance with an EU regulation. Whether those funds are sufficient or salaries are paid in full, we do not know and cannot confirm or deny it. “We just gave permission to unfreeze the funds, to pay the January wages,” he said.
The deputy minister stressed that the decision to sanction the “Belarus” sanatorium was not taken by the Government of Lithuania, but by the European Union. Therefore, according to him, Lithuania does not have the competence to change the decision on the sanctions applied.
“The sanctions are from the European Union, they were not imposed by the Lithuanian government. The easiest way to avoid sanctions is for Alexander Lukashenko’s administration to stop acting against its own citizens and start democratic procedures to hold legitimate elections. So , I think the European Union would certainly lift those sanctions. But this is a European sanctions regime and Lithuania does not have the competence to change it in this case, “said M. Adomėnas.
In December, Swedbank froze the accounts of the Belarusian sanatorium after the European Union imposed restrictive measures on Belarus.
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