Фото: Facebook Миндаугаса Синкявичюса
The chairman of Lithuania’s ruling Social Democratic Party, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, has allowed for the possibility of starting a dialogue with official Minsk, but said it would only be possible after the extension of European sanctions. The politician also sees preconditions for revising foreign policy toward Belarus.
“I think only then will we be able to return to this issue,” he said on Žinių radijas.
The potential meeting would not necessarily have to take place at the level of a deputy foreign minister, LRT wrote.
“A meeting and a conversation, hypothetically speaking, can be of a very different nature. Lithuania can express its dissatisfaction over balloons, over hybrid attacks — that could be the substance of the conversation. The content of the discussion could also be different,” Sinkevičius added.
He also doubts that such talks could take place in the coming weeks.
“Whether it is worth considering such a meeting already now — in February or March — I doubt it. But I cannot say that it is absolutely taboo in the longer term. (…) In general, diplomacy and foreign policy are about conversation. Not about silence and not about something else, but precisely about conversation: even if you state your position, do not receive a positive assessment, possibly quarrel, exchange positions and part ways,” he added.
At the same time, Sinkevičius believes there are preconditions for revising the policy of the previous government.
“We have to see the broader picture: decisions of the European Union, national decisions, the interests of America. Because this is not the picture of a single issue — it does not reflect the entire spectrum of related topics,” he said.
The politician stressed that national security should come first, while economic issues, including fertilizer transit, are secondary.
“And economic issues — fertilizers, transit and everything else — are already a secondary level. The security component is key, because it was precisely because of security issues, because of Minsk’s participation in the aggression against Ukraine, that sanctions were introduced. The question is how these sanctions have changed the functioning of Belarus, how they have not changed it, whether they need to be strengthened or replaced with dialogue,” he reasoned, noting that the Social Democrats are not “turning toward the eastern sun” and are maintaining a transatlantic course.