Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

Lithuanian Foreign Minister argues “he is not tired of the Belarusian opposition“


Press center of Lithuanian Foreign Ministry issued an official statement.

The statement notes, the news agency BNS some time ago, "incorrectly interpreted the word of Foreign Minister", addressed to the Belarusian opposition, IA REGNUM informs.

We remind, the Lithuanian media with reference to BNS published excerpts from an interview with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis to the nongovernmental center Cernegie Europe. The most cited were the words of the head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "I'm really tired of supporting plans for the Belarusian opposition. Opposition is fragmented. It has no expressive line in preparation for the upcoming elections ... I see only one desperate way. Together with our friends in America we need to start thinking about the transitional council. We need to create an alternative center of power. This parallel structure could find the response in the country. This is an idea, but so far no response from Brussels didn't come".

According to Ažubalis, the fact "that recently two former opponents of Alexander Lukashenko at the last presidential elections were released, doesn't mean anything".

Foreign Ministry officially says, that the first statement - "is not a quote from the interview, but the error in the translation made ​​by the agency BNS. Further is is reported that "Azubalis suggested a critical look at the plans of the Belarusian opposition, often contradicting with each other .... The Minister expressed not against the opposition, but only against a variety of plans that are not yet provide tangible results".

Lithuanian Foreign Minister led by Azubalis actively and fully supports the Belarusian opposition. Lithuanian Ambassador in Minsk has been withdrawn from the Belarusian capital in solidarity, when other EU countries recalled their ambassadors. However, also by the fault of the Lithuanian diplomatic service one of the Belarusian opposition leaders Ales Byalyatski was sentenced, the data on the movement of his bank accounts Lithuania gave to Minsk.