Lithuania is not currently planning a specific meeting between deputy foreign ministers of Lithuania and Belarus, but discussions are underway in Vilnius about what the content of possible talks with Minsk could be and where they might take place, the head of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday.
Lithuania is not currently planning a specific meeting between deputy foreign ministers of Lithuania and Belarus, but discussions are underway in Vilnius about what the content of possible talks with Minsk could be and where they might take place, the head of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday.
Remigijus Motuzas, a Social Democrat, said Belarus is pushing for a meeting at the deputy minister level, but Lithuania has not rejected the idea outright.
“As we know, Belarus is now provoking for a meeting at the deputy minister level. At the moment, it is not being refused; it is being considered,” Motuzas told the radio Žinių Radijas.
However, he stressed that any such meeting would require a clearly defined agenda.
“Let’s be honest – the question is: what would we talk about? If we meet, there has to be an agenda,” Motuzas said. “Our closest interest is to ensure there are no hybrid threats and that those trucks are released. Lithuania at this stage does not rule out those pragmatic interests, but right now the agenda is being formulated. And the second stage is where, in a neutral zone, we could meet.”
Later, Motuzas told BNS that no concrete talks with Belarus are currently being arranged.
“At the moment, no specific meeting is being considered. We see pressure from Belarus, and there is discussion about what the agenda of such a meeting could look like. We have to decide what we would meet about,” he said.
If a meeting were to take place, it would not be held in Lithuania or Belarus but in a neutral location, possibly on the sidelines of a multilateral event, Motuzas said.
“There are many multilateral events where Belarus is a member of those organisations and its delegations are present. That could be the neutral state – tied to some forum, conference or event in another country,” he said.
According to Motuzas, Lithuania’s interests include preventing hybrid threats and securing the release of Lithuanian trucking companies’ vehicles stranded in Belarus.
“If we were to achieve a result and be able to announce that we managed to help carriers, that would also be a certain diplomatic achievement,” he said. “I think no one would condemn our deputy minister for meeting with a Belarusian deputy minister if it helped resolve issues that hurt us or matter to us.”
At a technical level, border service representatives from both countries have recently met to address smuggler balloons flying into Lithuania from Belarus and the issue of Lithuanian companies’ trucks not being allowed to leave the neighbouring country.
As previously reported, Minsk has sought a meeting with Lithuania’s foreign minister or deputy foreign minister since last year, after Lithuania temporarily closed its border with in response to repeated disruptions at Vilnius Airport caused by smuggling balloons launched from Belarus.
After border checkpoints were reopened, the Belarusian government has prevented Lithuanian companies’ trucks from leaving the country.
Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has said that by exerting pressure on Lithuania, the Minsk government is seeking to legitimise itself internationally.
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