Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda did not criticise ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conversation with authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for geopolitical reasons, his adviser has said.
"Chancellor Merkel's call really sparked controversy. The Lithuanian president chose not to criticise the German leader. Why? The choice was purely geopolitical as Germany is our NATO ally and its troops are leading the NATO mission in Lithuania," Asta Skaisgirytė said in an interview with the Delfi.lt news website, published on Monday.
She added that even critics of the call said that "the illegal migration situation at the border with Belarus started stabilising".
"It's a result of smart politics," the adviser said.
Merkel and Lukashenko discussed the migration crisis twice in November. These were Western leaders' first conversations with Lukashenko since the contested presidential election in Belarus in August 2020.
Read more: Nausėda on contacts with Lukashenko: even plane hijackers need to be spoken to
The ex-chancellor's move sparked controversy among Western countries. In Lithuania, it led to tensions between the presidential office and Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who said he had not been informed about these conversations.
The head of state, however, claimed to have informed the minister about one of the mentioned conversations.
More than 4,200 irregular migrants have crossed into Lithuania from Belarus so far this year. Lithuania and other countries accuse the Minsk regime of orchestrating the unprecedented migration influx, calling it "hybrid aggression".
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