Linkevičius: We Must React Adequately And Resolutely To Situation In Belarus

The West can’t turn a blind eye to what is happening in the country.

This morning, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius arrived to the meeting of the Council of the European Union in Luxembourg and, among other things, spoke about the situation in Belarus, Radio Svaboda reports.

"We must be consistent. When we canceled the sanctions, that was due to the fact that the Belarusian authorities freed political prisoners. If they got on with this issue, if political prisoners appeared again, then, of course, we would react adequately and resolutely to the situation by applying pressure, but leaving space for the dialogue. So this two-pronged approach remains very important, but we can’t turn a blind eye to what is happening," – the Lithuanian Foreign Minister said.

On the eve of Freedom Day, Linas Linkevičius said that Lithuania was closely monitoring the arrests in Belarus and called on the Belarusian authorities to adhere to international obligations, respect human rights, and adhere to the principles of the rule of law, as the relations of Minsk with the European Union would depend on that:

"We hope that we will not return to the situation, when there were political prisoners in Belarus," – the Lithuanian Foreign Minister said on March 21.

We remind that on March 25, the authorities brought thousands of riot policemen against peaceful demonstrators in Minsk.