Belarus Foreign Ministry Says It Has Not Received Lithuania’s Proposal for Contacts at Special Envoy Level

The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it has not received any proposal from Lithuania regarding contacts at the level of ambassadors for special assignments. This was stated in a comment by the press secretary of the Belarusian foreign ministry, Ruslan Varankou, in response to statements published in the Lithuanian press.

“We would like to note the evolution of public statements by the Lithuanian side, which has moved from a categorical refusal of any political dialogue to expressing readiness for contacts at the level of an ambassador for special assignments.

At the same time, we state that despite this change in rhetoric in the media space, no official proposal or request to organize a meeting through diplomatic channels has been received from Vilnius. Such a gap between public statements and the absence of concrete official steps makes it difficult to assess the reality of the Lithuanian side’s intentions,” Varankou said.

He also expressed the Belarusian side’s readiness for contacts at the diplomatic level.

“For its part, Belarus approaches the issue of dialogue consistently and responsibly and once again confirms its openness to consultations at the appropriate level in order to discuss the full range of bilateral problems, including border-related issues.

We remind that there is a solid legal basis for this: paragraph 1.6 of Article 31 of the Treaty on the Regime of the Belarusian-Lithuanian State Border directly prescribes that parties which have not reached agreement between border commissioners must settle disagreements at the diplomatic level. Thus, we expect that Lithuania’s publicly declared readiness will finally be supported by a concrete official proposal. After that, the Belarusian side is ready to immediately begin substantive work,” he added.