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“We appreciate (statements from the Belarusian side -” Delfi “) with regret and disappointment. I can repeat once again, the latest decisions made by the Belarusian side cross the branch they are sitting on. And very few of those contacts remain. Emphasis (Belarus – “Delphi”) does not want to communicate with the West, it speaks only with one country.
That is an attack on the Lithuanian and Polish diplomatic services, that proposal on Friday night, (…) we will wait for the next steps. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decides on the consultations of the ambassadors. We have no such intentions. In other aspects, we will wait to see what the next steps will be. We are coordinating this with Poland. (…) Their reaction will also be very similar, “said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius.
According to the head of Lithuanian diplomacy, the European Union’s External Action Service has been briefed on the situation.
“Perhaps it is also a desire to divide our ranks, because so far only Lithuania and Poland have been singled out,” said L. Linkevičius.
The Lithuanian Foreign Minister has not yet promised to take retaliatory measures against the Belarusian side, as he does not see any benefit in that. He reiterated that he would not consider Belarus’ proposals to reduce the number of employees at the Lithuanian Embassy.
“If there is a demand from the other side, then we will make the appropriate decisions in Vilnius and Warsaw. Those proposals will definitely not be considered at the moment,” said L. Linkevičius.
The head of Lithuanian diplomacy assured that now everyone’s goal is the same: to create at least some kind of dialogue.
“If your stubbornness does not lead to a dialogue with Belarus itself, it must be a dialogue with those who could have an impact. I would first single out Russia. I know that heads of state who have contacts with Russia are trying to do that.
All efforts are being made, but it is clear that the reduction of contacts, the diplomatic representation, shows weakness in the first place, and certainly does not show any strength. We do not believe that these decisions are rational, ”said L. Linkevičius.
Belarus made a statement
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that it would call its Lithuanian and Polish ambassadors for consultations and called on these countries to reduce the number of diplomats in their embassies in Minsk, BNS wrote.
“The ambassadors in Poland and Lithuania will be called to Minsk for consultations from October 5. Consequently, the ambassadors of Poland and Lithuania in Belarus were offered to follow this example,” said Anatolis Hlaz, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. .
Lithuanian and Polish diplomatic envoys summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry also received calls to reduce the number of diplomats on their missions.
“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 the Belarusian state news agency Belta, in this case the number of employees of the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk should be reduced from 25 to 14 and the number of Polish diplomats from 50 to 18.
“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.
He was quoted by the Belarusian state news agency Belta and the Russian news agency Interfax.
After the rigged presidential elections on August 9, Lithuania and Poland took a firm stance against Aliaksandr Lukashenko and expressed their support for Belarusians demanding new elections.
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