Денис Кучинский. Скриншот Офиса Светланы Тихановской
Last year, after the Lithuanian government decided to lower the level of security for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, she sent a letter to Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, but received no response. This was said by Tsikhanouskaya’s diplomatic adviser Dzianis Kuchynski on the Lrytas program “Decoding the Essence With Dovydas Pancerovas”.
“We are grateful for such support, for the fact that the criminal police protect us and ensure that we can work in Vilnius (…), but until the end of last year we were looking for a compromise — how it would be possible to act if we fully remained in Vilnius. We were looking for this compromise, Tsikhanouskaya wrote a letter to the prime minister, but we did not receive an answer,” LRT quoted him as saying.
According to him, there was also an attempt to arrange a meeting, but it did not take place. At the same time, Kuchynski noted support from Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the presidential administration.
“We tried to meet, but somehow it did not work out… On the other hand, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the presidential administration we had many meetings and many conversations, we were looking for what could be done. From this side, we can say that the Foreign Ministry did everything it could — we have status, diplomatic support (…). And from the presidential side as well,” he emphasized.
As a reminder, after news emerged about the reduction of Tsikhanouskaya’s security level, her possible relocation to Poland began to be discussed in Lithuania. The government’s decision to transfer her protection from the service responsible for guarding senior officials to the police was criticized by representatives of Lithuanian opposition parties. Ultimately, Tsikhanouskaya’s Office officially announced this year that it was expanding its work in Warsaw. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is now based in Poland. However, part of her office continues to operate in Vilnius.