Linas Linkevičius: Belarusians And Lithuanians Share Common History

The reburial of Kalinouski rebels has confirmed it.

Representatives of the Belarusian intelligentsia asked to reburial some of the remains of the 1863 rebels in Minsk. And the Lithuanian side refused them, as such a procedure is designated only for the remains of saints. This was stated by Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius at a meeting with Belarusian journalists, euroradio.fm reports.

The reburial of Kastus Kalinouski and his associates was held in Vilnius on November 22, 2019. Before that, in September, the Belarusian intelligentsia wrote an appeal to the Lithuanian Parliament with a request to reburial the remains in Belarus. Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, rock musician Liavon Volski, writer Uladzimir Arlou and more than four thousand people signed the open letter.

According to Linkevičius, there was no official appeal to rebury the remains.

"As far as I know, it was about the reburial of some parts of the remains. But the experts said that it can only be done with saints. I'm not an expert, I do not know, but in the end we agreed that it is necessary to rebury them as it has been done," - he said.

Linkevičius stressed that Belarusians and Lithuanians have a common history, and the funeral of Kalinouski rebels confirmed it. He added that Lithuania does not monopolize the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and hopes for the same treatment from the Belarusian side.

Journalists asked the Lithuanian diplomat to comment on the Russian Telegram channels, spreading rumors about the possible unification of Belarus and Lithuania in the new GDL. According to Linkiavičius, such a revival of the GDL is impossible.

As for the so-called "Baltic-Black Sea Union," Lithuania is interested in such cooperation. But it will be the cooperation of several states, not the creation of a single state.