Фото: Офис Тихановской
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys sees no grounds for revising the current policy toward the Belarusian authorities as long as Belarus continues to pose hybrid threats. He said this in an interview with Delfi. According to Budrys, the updated government’s policy toward Minsk will remain unchanged. He also does not consider any easing of EU sanctions to be possible, noting that the issue is not being discussed within the bloc.
“The most important criterion for us when it comes to Belarus is national security. It is well known that democratic states create far fewer problems for one another than authoritarian ones. That is also a fact.
It is well known that we would like to see a sovereign, independent, democratic Belarus neighboring Lithuania. However, given the current situation and the parameters we are dealing with, the most important issues for us are those related to national security — namely, preventing hybrid threats from Belarus, ensuring they no longer exist, and making sure that various means used against us are no longer employed.
Migrants, balloons, various hostile operations carried out against us by intelligence services, disinformation, lies, and, finally, the detention of Lithuanian citizens — all of this must stop. We should also note Belarus’ contribution to the aggression against Ukraine.
These are important issues directly and indirectly related to our security, both in the short and long term. These are our priorities. And as stated in the government’s program, if these conditions do not change, if Belarus continues to be a source of hybrid activities and continues to provide such support to Russia, Lithuania will strengthen its efforts to increase Belarus’ international isolation and pressure on it.”, he said.
According to Budrys, the government’s program contains no references to possible normalization unless those conditions change. He stressed that all conditions must be met.
“I do not see any mention here of possible normalization without changes to these two conditions. And to single out only one part — suggesting that if one condition is met Lithuania’s position could become either tougher or softer — is manipulation. Because, once again, I repeat: what matters to us is that there should be no activity directed against us from Belarus. As long as this continues, I see no reason to talk about any revision of the current position.”, he added.
Budrys said sanctions are one of the instruments of pressure. Lithuania will continue to consistently advocate for maintaining them and aligning them with sanctions against Russia.
“I see no reason to discuss any easing of the sanctions regime, including ahead of early 2027, when the current sectoral sanctions expire. That is why I have seen no discussions other than political manipulation aimed at portraying this issue as some kind of ongoing process.”, he said.
The minister said he could not envision a situation in which the European Union would fundamentally change its position on sanctions, even taking into account U.S. interests.
“The sanctions imposed by the European Union are based on specific grounds: human rights violations, assistance to Russia’s aggression, the abduction of children, facilitating the re-education of abducted children, and so on. Until those grounds change, I cannot imagine how the European Union could change its position.
Moreover, I will reveal a small secret — there is no discussion within the European Union about a possible revision of sanctions against Belarus. There is not even a discussion for anyone to join with different arguments, because no one sees any changes.
So I think this issue should be considered settled, full stop. And there is no doubt that we want Belarus to change its position. When we speak with our friends in the United States, we say the same thing: yes, we want things to be different, but nothing is changing. It was your actions aimed at securing the release of political prisoners and reducing Belarus’ international isolation that created conditions for Belarus to increase pressure on us at the border. And that is wrong. After all, this is also NATO’s border.”, he said.
Budrys was also asked whether the views of the new interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński, who has described sanctions as ineffective, could influence government decisions. The foreign minister replied that procedures involve multiple levels of coordination before Lithuania’s position is presented within the EU, and that it has so far received unanimous approval.
“If anyone has questions about effectiveness, we can systematize the data — and there is plenty of it — on how sanctions affect both the Belarusian and Russian regimes. If the issue is their duration or anything else, we can answer all of those questions. That is precisely what interagency cooperation, which I mentioned earlier, is for.”, he said.
Despite its firm stance, Lithuania continues to maintain communication channels with Belarus.
“Lithuania has more than one technical channel through which information is exchanged in this area. I am convinced that these channels should exist and should function. They allow us to minimize, so to speak, certain accidents, mistakes, and the damage caused by mistakes, and they also allow us to respond preventively so that situations do not escalate. For example, when it comes to airspace incidents, border incidents, and other issues. We probably have four, five, or perhaps even more such channels operating.
The Foreign Ministry maintains contact with the Belarusian side through a designated representative. We do indeed call frequently and convey our comments or protests if something happens, for example, in connection with airspace violations. That is the channel through which we currently work. The size of the diplomatic missions on both sides has also been reduced to a minimum. That was done by decision of Belarus. There are now virtually no actively working diplomats left in either capital.”, he said.
At the same time, he does not foresee relations moving to a higher level.
“I do not see how or why that should be done before all other channels have been exhausted. States need ways to communicate bilaterally as well as multilaterally in order to resolve problems. We have already mentioned several such issues. We have not yet mentioned another one, which is also included in the government’s program: the expansion of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP) in Astravets with a third reactor and a nuclear waste storage facility… Lithuania also needs tools to address these issues. So let us use everything that works, and then we will see whether anything more is needed.
I do not currently see any circumstances, conditions, or necessity for that. After all, if problems cannot be resolved because the other side simply does not want to resolve them, what difference does it make at what level we hold talks? I would only note that in some cases multilateral efforts are also being made. This concerns the United States, which I have already mentioned. Our argument here is very clear and specific: this is also NATO’s border, this is also a collective issue — the security situation in the country affects the Baltic states, where NATO forces are also deployed.”, Budrys said.