Инга Ругинене. Фото: канцелярия Сейма Литвы
While Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering the possibility of introducing national sanctions against Belarus “for hybrid activity,” the country’s Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė insists that this would be a last resort. LRT reported this, citing BNS.
“We are keeping this as a last resort,” the prime minister told journalists on Wednesday.
She spoke following a statement by Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys, who said that since meteorological balloons from Belarus continue to enter the country and the Minsk regime is not releasing detained Lithuanian trucks, the possibility of adopting “a law on national sanctions for hybrid activity carried out against Lithuania” is being considered.
According to Ruginienė, various countermeasures against Belarus are currently being tightened.
“Let us not forget: we opened the borders, but we can close them again. If the trucks are not released, if the goodwill we saw when closing the border does not return, we will take increasingly strict measures,” she said.
It should be recalled that Lithuania closed its border with Belarus for a month due to the threat posed by meteorological balloons, but citing an improvement in the situation, it decided to reopen it ten days ahead of schedule. The Medininkai and Šalčininkai border crossings resumed operations last Thursday.
In response to the border closure, Minsk banned Lithuanian trucks from entering Belarus until the border reopened. Despite the resumption of work at the two border crossings, Belarus is not allowing the trucks to return to Lithuania.