Lithuanian Foreign Minister: Discussion of policy towards Minsk does not mean its revision

Kęstutis Budrys. Photo: AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis

According to him, the mere fact of discussion should not be interpreted as doubting the correctness of the current line. Budrys noted that such discussions are necessary to assess how well the implemented policy corresponds to the set goals.

"It seems to me that, let's say, it is incorrectly interpreted that if we discuss something, it means we are questioning the current policy and therefore assume it will be immediately reviewed. No, we need to check if what we are doing is truly correct," the minister stated in an interview with the Lrytas portal published on Wednesday.

Budrys thus commented on the increasingly frequent statements by representatives of the ruling coalition about the possibility of resuming dialogue with Minsk.

Mindaugas Sinkevičius, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, had earlier allowed for the possibility of a meeting at the deputy minister level, emphasizing that Vilnius should coordinate actions with partners — the European Union and the United States.

On the other hand, he believes that a return to discussing political dialogue with Minsk will only be possible after the EU extends sanctions against Belarus.

Budrys stated that he supports the emerging discussions about sanctions policy and assured that he has "a lot of arguments" in favor of it being one of the most effective economic and political tools.

"If someone thinks that sanctions do not work, let's discuss whether their scope of application was chosen incorrectly or, say, their implementation does not work, because there are also some problems here. Sanctions circumvention is a big topic, and the situation with our carriers showed that we probably have more than one grey area here too," said Budrys.

According to the minister, discussions about the results achieved and the benefits of sanctions can continue, but it cannot be argued that they have not yielded the desired results until all resources are exhausted.

"Until we exhaust all resources, both regarding Russia and regarding Belarus in sanctions policy, striving to change their behavior, I do not agree that in this situation sanctions are an ineffective tool, because we have not yet been convinced of this," he said. "We must implement the sanctions package in full. America has reserves, Europe has reserves. And we still have to act. In this matter, there are no changes in policy and position."

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