As the Belarusian authorities continue to prevent trucks registered in Lithuania from leaving the country and push for a ministerial-level meeting, Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it sees no reason to give in to blackmail and promises to intensify pressure on the regime.
“The Foreign Ministry sees no grounds to succumb to coercion and blackmail from Belarus,” the statement sent to BNS and published by LRT said. “We assess the actions of the Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime as yet another attempt to use any situation to put pressure on Lithuania while seeking new ways to legitimize the regime.”
According to the ministry, the situation created by Belarus — in which the property of Lithuanian companies is effectively being held as collateral — only strengthens Lithuania’s position in favour of introducing tougher sanctions against the Lukashenka regime.
“The kidnapping of EU citizens, and now their property, will not change the EU’s principles in its relations with a dictatorship that attacks it — international isolation will continue, and pressure on the regime will be increased,” the Lithuanian ministry stressed.
At midnight on Thursday, Lithuania opened two border crossings with Belarus, but Lithuanian trucks are still not being allowed through.
The president of the National Road Carriers Association Linava, Erlandas Mikėnas, said that, according to his information, Belarus is not releasing Lithuanian trucks from designated parking areas and is demanding a meeting between the foreign ministries of Vilnius and Minsk.
Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič said on Thursday that he had no information indicating that Minsk was demanding such a meeting.
The secretary general of the International Transport and Logistics Alliance (TTLA), Povilas Drižas, in turn said that representatives of Minsk were still deciding how to release Lithuanian vehicles from the parking areas and whether to allow them to travel through Belarusian territory.