Leader of Lithuania’s Liberal Movement Viktoria Čmilytė-Nielsen believes that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s move to Poland is a loss for Lithuania. She placed responsibility for this on the current government.
“I believe this is a loss. And I have grounds to think so. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya may not have been as visible within Lithuania itself as some expected, but she was and, I have no doubt, remains an important ambassador of the Belarusian opposition and Belarusian civil society worldwide. She is a politician and a leader who is received by the heads of all major and smaller states that are Lithuania’s allies.
When Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was in different capitals and spoke about her country, (…) she always expressed gratitude to Lithuania and emphasized Lithuania’s importance as a key partner in the fight for democracy,” Čmilytė-Nielsen said, as reported by LRT.
In her view, over the course of a year the ruling coalition has managed to undermine groundwork that had been built by more than one government.
“This was a truly deliberate decision — to reduce the level of security, to send a signal to the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka (…) that we do not value this and that it would be more convenient for us if she left. In my view, this is a loss for us, if we speak purely in terms of our interests. And, unfortunately, in the context of international politics, Lithuania is increasingly turning into a province and losing important levers.
Over the course of a year, the Social Democrats have managed to destroy the groundwork that was created by more than one government,” she said.
Earlier, Gabrielius Landsbergis, former leader of the Lithuanian Conservatives and former foreign minister, also criticized the government’s decisions.
