{"id":527538,"date":"2026-03-22T14:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=527538"},"modified":"2026-03-22T21:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:11:28","slug":"lithuanian-presidential-adviser-belarus-is-entangled-in-russia-s-embrace-but-should-not-be-written-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lithuanian-presidential-adviser-belarus-is-entangled-in-russia-s-embrace-but-should-not-be-written-off","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian Presidential Adviser: Belarus Is Entangled in Russia\u2019s Embrace but Should Not Be Written Off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amid the easing of U.S. sanctions policy toward Belarus, Chief Adviser to the Lithuanian President Deividas Matulionis<\/b> said that neither Lithuania nor its European Union partners have received any pressure from the administration of Donald Trump<\/b> to revise their own sanctions policy toward Minsk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to state responsibly that so far there has been no pressure whatsoever, not even the slightest, on us or on other European partners to change policy toward Belarus. There has been no such discussion. And this makes me optimistic,\u201d<\/i> he said in the politika.lt podcast.<\/p>\n

The adviser noted that European sanctions against Belarus have recently been extended, and the status quo remains in place. According to him, if, against the backdrop of improving U.S.-Belarus relations, the next step had been pressure on European partners to ease sanctions, the situation would have been significantly more complicated. For now, this is not happening, and Lithuania feels relatively calm.<\/p>\n

Assessing the Trump administration\u2019s policy in general, Matulionis described it as based on \u201cuncertainty and unpredictability.\u201d<\/i> According to him, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as adversaries also cannot always clearly understand the goals and possible next steps of the American side.<\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. policy should be judged by concrete actions, not words. And so far we do not see actions that would cause us concern,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking about possible outcomes of a rapprochement between the United States and Belarus, the adviser expressed the view that the main result could be the release of all political prisoners. He does not yet see any deeper systemic changes. According to him, Belarus continues to assist Russia in the field of electronic warfare, its military system is fully integrated into Russia\u2019s, and hybrid attacks against neighbors \u2014 weather balloons, detained trucks, and instrumentalized migration \u2014 continue.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the Americans are trying to \u201cbuy out\u201d<\/i> Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/b> along with the entire country, Matulionis responded evasively, suggesting that a strategic design \u2014 creating additional dilemmas for Russia \u2014 should not be ruled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not agree with those who say that everything is coordinated in advance and that Lukashenka agrees everything with Vladimir Putin<\/b> before meeting the Americans. I think things are a bit more complex,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

In his view, Lukashenka, who has been in power for 32 years, has always managed to navigate difficult situations and may be counting on improved relations with the United States as an additional lifeline.<\/p>\n

Matulionis also stressed that Lithuania is not ready to begin political negotiations with Minsk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are problems created in Belarus, and they must resolve them,\u201d<\/i> he said, adding that technical contacts with the Belarusian side have not been suspended, but there are no grounds for political dialogue.<\/p>\n

The adviser formulated Lithuania\u2019s long-term national interest regarding Belarus as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cA democratic, peaceful Belarus and, accordingly, security from the east. This is, of course, a difficult goal to achieve, but we must be optimists. Who knows what the world will look like. I still believe that Belarusian society differs from Russian society in that it has much less imperial thinking.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this gives some hope. Of course, this is a very complex issue, because the further it goes, the deeper Belarus is immersed in Russia\u2019s embrace. But it should not be so easily written off, because even the Russian people themselves cannot be written off 100 percent. It is unknown what will happen there in 100 or 200 years, and Belarusians \u2014 even more so. They are still imbued with the spirit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Western civilization,\u201d<\/i> he added. \u201cAfter all, Kastus Kalinouski<\/b> is their hero.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is a hero who said that the Belarusian people must be free. We must somehow encourage precisely such ideas \u2014 that this is a proud people, worthy of freedom, and essentially a European people. If we speak, as Russia tries to do, that this is some kind of dialect and that these are the same Russians, then by ignoring the Belarusian people, we ourselves will help Russia.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the easing of U.S. sanctions policy toward Belarus, Chief Adviser to the Lithuanian President Deividas Matulionis said that neither Lithuania nor its European Union partners have received any pressure from the administration of Donald Trump to revise their own sanctions policy toward Minsk. \u201cI want to state responsibly that so far there has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":527537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69c030d469299.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lithuanian Presidential Adviser: Belarus Is Entangled in Russia\u2019s Embrace but Should Not Be Written Off"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[143118,143122],"class_list":["post-527538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-rossija"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}