{"id":535723,"date":"2026-04-22T23:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=535723"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:52:28","slug":"lithuanian-foreign-ministry-belarusian-media-distorted-context-of-budrys-remarks-on-normalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lithuanian-foreign-ministry-belarusian-media-distorted-context-of-budrys-remarks-on-normalisation","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian Foreign Ministry: Belarusian Media Distorted Context of Budrys\u2019 Remarks on Normalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Belarusian state media circulated an edited fragment of an interview with Lithuanian Foreign Minister <b>K\u0119stutis Budrys<\/b>, creating the impression that he is eager to normalise relations with Minsk. Lithuania\u2019s Foreign Ministry described the incident as a provocation and said the remarks had been taken heavily out of context, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lrt.lt\/naujienos\/lietuvoje\/2\/2906276\/urm-baltarusijos-televizija-iskraipe-budrio-zodzius\">LRT reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a report by the state TV channel ONT, Budrys <a href=\"https:\/\/ont.by\/ru\/policy-ru\/view\/diplomaticheskij-forum-pozitsija-belarusi-mirnoe-uregulirovanie-316700-2026\/\">says<\/a> he wants to establish relations with Belarus:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI want to have established contacts with Belarus, this is my dream, truly&#8230; without unnecessary threats. I very much hope that one day we will have excellent relations after we resolve all issues. \u2013 <b>So, you are ready to establish relations?<\/b> \u2013 I dream of it!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The interview was recorded at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, where the minister took part in a discussion on European security.<\/p>\n<p>However, according to Lithuania\u2019s Foreign Ministry, a substantial part of the statement was cut from the report. In the full version, Budrys spoke about repression by the <b>Lukashenka<\/b> regime against civil society and political prisoners, and stressed that Lithuania cannot discuss normalisation of relations until all political prisoners are released, Belarus ceases to be complicit in Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine, and stops hybrid attacks against Lithuania.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe minister spoke about the Lukashenka regime\u2019s repression against civil society: while releasing some political prisoners, it arrests others. In his remarks, he emphasised that Lithuania would, of course, like to have a peaceful and democratic neighbour with which it could maintain friendly relations, however it is impossible to talk about relations with Belarus until all political prisoners are released, Belarus remains complicit in Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine, and hybrid attacks against Lithuania are carried out from its territory,\u201d<\/em> the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis case once again shows who we are dealing with \u2014 provocateurs and manipulators,\u201d<\/em> the ministry added.<\/p>\n<p>The edited fragment was used not only by Belarusian propaganda but also by Belarusian diplomacy. On Monday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry <a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/belarusian-foreign-ministry-awaits-communication-with-lithuanian-representative\">stated<\/a> that it welcomed Budrys\u2019 remarks and expressed readiness for constructive dialogue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belarusian state media circulated an edited fragment of an interview with Lithuanian Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys, creating the impression that he is eager to normalise relations with Minsk. Lithuania\u2019s Foreign Ministry described the incident as a provocation and said the remarks had been taken heavily out of context, LRT reported. In a report by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":517659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69e997802207f.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lithuanian Foreign Ministry: Belarusian Media Distorted Context of Budrys\u2019 Remarks on Normalisation"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[143118],"class_list":["post-535723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics","tag-belarus"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535723","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=535723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}