Lithuanian Foreign Minister: No Reason To Ease Sanctions For Belarus

• 23.06.2025, 10:15

Until all political prisoners are released.

After more than a dozen political prisoners were released in Belarus over the weekend, including Sergei Tikhanovsky, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kiastutis Budrys said this is not a reason to consider lifting sanctions, LRT reported.

"Lithuania is under the European Union's sanctions regime, we have also introduced our own measures, and as of today I don't see any reason to reconsider anything," Budrys told reporters on Sunday.

Some of the national and European sanctions imposed, he noted, were related to the situation with human rights and democracy in Belarus, as well as support for Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"If we remember the reasons for which they were imposed, it should not be one release of political prisoners or two or three releases. We have already had a series of such releases, but all political prisoners should be released, it is necessary to stop putting new prisoners in prisons, and then we will be able to talk about something," the foreign minister said.

"This is the direction Lukashenko should move in until we can discuss the possibility of revising the sanctions policy," he added.

Release of Lithuanian citizens

Kiastutis Budrys also said that Lithuania had hoped to release several Lithuanians and persons with Lithuanian residency permits imprisoned for political reasons in Belarus as a result of recent U.S. efforts, but that this had not been done.

"Yes, we also had our expectations, yes, we wanted to resolve this issue, and we still want to resolve this issue related to the fate of several of our citizens in Belarus, as well as persons who had residence permits in Lithuania and got into trouble there, but this time it was not done, so we leave this work for the future," Budrys told reporters on Sunday.

"A lot of efforts are made non-publicly, and yes, we pay a lot of attention and efforts to make life easier for the people there and for them to return home as soon as possible," he added.

Budris said several people in Belarus have been jailed as "extremists" for writing various posts on social media while in Lithuania.