After the events in Belarus, the world’s attention is pleasantly surprising: Lithuania is the leader of the free world.

Public relations experts say that Lithuania has been portrayed in the West in the last week in a very positive light, praising the country’s leaders who speak well. Some of them hope that after these events, the world will also pay attention to unstable and insecure Belarus.

Marius Gurskas, the head of the government’s Lithuanian image group, told LRT radio on Friday that Lithuania was at the epicenter of world media after last week’s events.

According to data from the Government Chancellery, Lithuania was mentioned in about 110 different countries, information about the events in Minsk and the reaction of Lithuanian leaders appeared in 30 languages, the most mentioned in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada. . , Australia and Spain.

Lithuania also received praise from the Financial Times, praising the country not only for its leadership during the events in Belarus, but also for its decision to withdraw from the format of economic and political cooperation important to China 17 + 1.

“Lithuania has been searching for a leader in the free world in recent weeks,” Richard Milne, a correspondent for the Nordic and Baltic countries, wrote on Friday.

Arijus Katauskas, senior partner at the public relations agency Nova Media, says the positive comments about Lithuania are “really pleasantly surprising.”

“Yes, Lithuania received compliments and evaluations. I think this event is unique and its visibility and positive side are really pleasantly surprising,” A. Katauskas told BNS.

However, at the same time, the public relations expert said he feared that in this context, the events will be remembered when Lithuania released data on the accounts of opposition figures Ales Beliackis and Valentinas Stefanovičius in Lithuania to Belarus a decade ago.

How the message will be read is important.

Artūras Jonkus, head of the communication agency Agency 1323, stated that in addition to positive feedback, it is also necessary to take into account how different countries and audiences will read the message.

“The fact that the incident itself and Lithuania’s actions, which were swift and decisive, were positively highlighted, was always a secondary message: it is an expression that we have a monkey with a grenade behind the border (Aliaksandr Lukashenko – BNS) How do people read that message a little further away from politics? ”- A. Jonkus told BNS.

“What is happening to Belarus, if we are not talking about political leadership, but about, for example, tourism, investment, is a question of how some countries can interpret it.” The behavior of an unpredictable neighbor in different audiences can be understood differently, ”said the public relations expert.

He recalled that in the 1990s, Sweden conducted a study that showed that American tourists avoided the country because of the war in the Balkans.

“The Americans have read that it is unstable there, Sweden, in their opinion, is close to the former Yugoslavia, so it is dangerous to drive there. With this example, I illustrated that the same audiences can read the same message very differently, ”said A. Jonkus.

For his part, A. Katauskas pointed out that Lithuania has been talking about insecurity in Belarus for many years.

“Lithuania, of course, is very close. The fact that this regime is close can be exploited in diplomatic communication, for the Astrava nuclear power plant itself, in defining the challenges facing Lithuania. But let’s not forget that this issue It affected not only Lithuania and Belarus, but also the entire European Union, the big airlines ”, he emphasized.

“Even some of our closest neighbors will probably reconsider the whole situation now. I think there is an angle of insecurity, but we have been talking about insecurity for many years,” he added.

Compliments for Government in English

Following the urgent decisions of the Government of Lithuania on the closure of airspace by Belarusian companies and leadership in adjusting their position in the European Council, the country’s ministers were invited to speak via news channels Most important in the world.

For example, the day after the incident, both Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and Transport Minister Marius Skuodis appeared on CNN.

Public relations experts note that ministers made their positions clear and demonstrated good knowledge of the English language.

“There is a nuance here, for a very technical reason, if there is not a person who speaks English, or it is necessary to build one that speaks English, or not to be where the English-speaking environment is,” said A. Katauskas.

According to him, this situation also shows future ministers how important it is to communicate well in the main languages, taking into account that “it is not only in their personal interest to express that position.”

“Good language skills when speaking to an international audience are really important. Americans are more lenient with paying different tiers. I would say there are more Europeans watching: language culture is more important in Europe than in the United States, ”A. Jonkus told BNS.

“But it is clear that it also works there, that if a person speaks fluently and intelligibly, not only is the construction and pronunciation understood, it is natural that that person is accepted much more favorably,” emphasized the public relations expert.