The US government supports the people of Belarus and their struggle for democracy, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said after meeting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The US and Lithuania have also signed an agreement on 5G.
“We continue strengthening strategic partnership. I thanked for pivotal #US role in ensuring security of #Lithuania & the whole region. We also jointly stand by the people of #Belarus as they continue to fight for democracy,” Linkevičius tweeted after his meeting.
Pompeo “expressed appreciation for Lithuania’s leadership in ensuring the independence and territorial integrity of Belarus and the democratic rights of its people,” Morgan Ortagus, the US State Department's spokeswoman, said in a press release.
Great mtng with @SecPompeo & signing of #5G Agreement. We continue strengthening strategic🇱🇹🇺🇸partnership. I thanked for pivotal #US role in ensuring security of #Lithuania & the whole region. We also jointly stand by the people of #Belarus as they continue to fight for democracy pic.twitter.com/XzTfryavRN
— Linas Linkevicius (@LinkeviciusL) September 16, 2020
Belarus has been engulfed in protests since Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in the August 9 presidential election which the opposition and Western countries say was rigged. Massive protests challenging the official result were met with a brutal crackdown.
“I presented my take [...] and what we expect from the international community as a whole and countries like the United States,” Linkevičius said in a comment to LRT TV.
“We understand that the US is in a pre-election fever and all the focus is on that, but it doesn't mean that other issues are overshadowed,” he added.
Lithuania expects Washington to express support to the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition, Linkevičius said.
Linkevičius and Pompeo also discussed the poisoning of the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, according to the Lithuanian minister.
He said that while the Western countries had been talking about normalising relations with Minsk before, “it all collapsed after the rigged election and especially the [violent] behaviour with its own people”.
Linkevičius also emphasised that events in Belarus did not pose any security threats to Lithuania and he did not talk about deploying additional US troops with Pompeo.
“We spoke about deterrence in the more traditional sense,” he told LRT TV, adding that the ongoing Russian-Belarusian military drills were merely “sabre rattling” meant to give credence to Moscow's claims that NATO was a military threat.
Great meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister @LinkeviciusL today to discuss the U.S.- Lithuania partnership on #5G security and promoting democracy and human rights. Grateful for Lithuania’s contributions to our shared defense @NATO. pic.twitter.com/RrZ2jHmhOp
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 17, 2020
Among other things, Lithuania and the US signed an agreement to cooperate in developing 5G telecommunication infrastructure.
“It's a memorandum on the principles that are difficult not to agree with. We're talking about transparency, about competitiveness, respect and protection for intellectual property. About the governments not interfering with technology,” Linkevičius commented the 5G agreement to LRT TV.
The US administration has been pressing its allies to bar Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from taking part in the development of 5G networks.
Read more: Lithuanian foreign minister to sign 5G deal with US in Washington
The US has earlier signed similar declarations with the other Baltic states and Poland. The countries agreed to evaluate whether technology suppliers are “subject to control by a foreign government without independent judicial review”.
In an interview with BNS in February, US Ambassador to Lithuania Robert Gilchrist said the United States expected Lithuania to take proper care of 5G security and evaluate threats posed by China while introducing the technology.
Huawei says that it takes care of cyber security and complies with international regulation in this area, and that no government institutions or external organisations hold shares in the company or control it in any way.
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