The Lukashenko regime is responsible for the recent incident in Vilnius when a Belarusian souvenir shop was vandalised, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Vilnius-based Belarusian opposition leader says.
On Tuesday, she and representatives of her office came to express their solidarity with the owner of the vandalised shop.
“I’m sure that Lukashenko regime is behind this provocation because, first of all, we have already seen so many attempts to seed mistrust between Belarusians, who fled Belarus because of oppression, and the Lithuanian nation,” she told reporters. “Previous provocations were based on the so-called litvinism, now this provocation.”
She asked Lithuanians not to be misled by the Minsk regime and not to look for enemies among the Belarusians in Lithuania.
“We have to remember that only a democratic and free Belarus will be a reliable partner. Don’t forget who is sending migrants to the border and who is making these provocations, it’s not Belarusian people, it’s the regime,” she said.
Representatives of Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry also came to express their solidarity with the owners of the shop.
“The Foreign Ministry strongly condemns this provocation, this disgusting incident, and we will seek an investigation into this incident to identify both the executors and the masterminds. We believe that this is most likely a provocation by the regime,” said Ugnė Matulevičienė of the ministry’s Eastern Neighbourhood Policy Department.
According to Tomas Tomilinas, deputy chair of the Lithuanian Seimas’ provisional group “For Democratic Belarus”, said that such provocations were aimed at politicians.
“They are aimed at inciting discord, engaging people in things that are not quite legitimate, but our political system shows resilience, no one is involved in such provocations,” Tomilinas said. “We are well aware that in such turbulent times when we have so many Belarusians and Ukrainians in Lithuania, these tensions can arise, but nobody succumbs to provocations.”
The Kropka shop was vandalised over the weekend when red paint was used to spray “Go home Belarusian pigs” on its wall and its windows were smashed.
Tsikhanouskaya’s office said the Kropka shop is owned by Dmitry Furmanov, a former Belarusian political prisoner living in Lithuania.
A pre-trial investigation into damage to property has been opened.
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