Lithuania Refused to Reduce the Number of Diplomats in Belarus

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister rejected the offer of Lukashenka's officials.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said that the country is not yet considering recalling the ambassador and other diplomats from Belarus in response to the diplomatic steps of Minsk, delfi.lt reports.

"We definitely do not intend to recall (the ambassador) for consultations, and we will definitely not do anything about staff reduction," Linkevičius told reporters.

"We are not interested in reducing the channels of cooperation, communication, we see many problems in this, and we will definitely not resort to such an initiative, since we do not see any benefit in this," the Lithuanian Foreign Minister said.

The minister held a press conference shortly after the Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced the recall of ambassadors for consultations from Lithuania and Poland, invited the named countries to follow this example and reduce the number of diplomats in their embassies in Minsk.

Linkevičius drew attention to the fact that Minsk formulated its position as a proposal, not a demand. He said that he met this statement with regret and disappointment. According to the minister, such a move could have been expected given the regime's previous rhetoric, but this move is a sign of weakness.

"It was expected because such threats or warnings are heard not for the first time (...); they have repeatedly stated that they will take measures, and the termination of diplomatic relations was also mentioned, at least in rhetoric," Linkevicius said.

The head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said that he had discussed a joint response with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau and informed the European External Action Service.