Conventional wisdom dictates vision before planning. It seems neither are present in the cautious, yet steady Western reset with Belarus, whose authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko recently secured his fifth term in elections widely considered to be flawed, argues Marius Laurinavičius, fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). […]
The recent presidential election in Belarus secured presidency for Alexander Lukashenko for the fifth term. Prior to the vote, the Belarusian regime released political prisoners, which the European Union took as a gesture of good will and is talking about suspending sanctions against Lukashenko and his officials. However, such optimism about change in Belarus is misguided, says political scientist Vytis Jurkonis of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University. […]
The theatre goes on. Alexander Lukashenko will continue in his long running ‘role’ as president of Belarus. One cannot say ‘elected,’ ‘endorsed’ or even ‘confirmed.’ Not only would none of these be true, they would simply not be believable. As has been said, the only question in this piece of performance art was whether Lukashenko would choose to win by 72%, 79% or even more absurd, 83% of the vote, based upon the delusion that ‘believability’ was possible and that the Belarusian population can be kept silent. […]
Lithuania is ready to continue its political dialogue with the neighbouring Belarus, whose president Alexander Lukashenko has been re-elected for his fifth consecutive term of office, says Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius. He also stressed the importance of bilateral economic relations. […]
The European Union should make the decision to lift sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko by the end of the month, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius, LRT.lt reports. […]
The results of the presidential election in Belarus were anticipated and Lithuania together with other member-states of the European Union will decide on long-term relations with Belarus by taking into account the final report of election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), says Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė. […]
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius says he is in favour of the European Union lifting sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. […]
Current times in Eastern Europe can hardly be seen as a blessing. With the region more destabilized than ever, not only the economies of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the surrounding countries suffer, but also the image of Eastern Europe has been in downfall lately. However, for someone these problems in the region might be coming at a perfect time. […]
A Russian army base in Belarus would worsen Belarus’ relations with Lithuania and would undermine Belarus’ goal to normalize its ties with NATO and the European Union, Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas says. […]
Russia has announced it is planning to set up a military aviation base in Belarus, while Minsk refrains from comment, even after a meeting between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. […]
An action in support of Belarusian political prisoners will take place in the Town Hall Square in central Vilnius on Tuesday. […]
The European Union launched its Eastern Partnership programme in 2009, soon after Russia‘s 2008 war on Georgia. It was proposed by Poland and Sweden, with enthusiastic support from Lithuania. Russia has ever since been blaming the programme for trying to undermine its interests in the countries Moscow refers to as the “near abroad”. […]
Assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was a shocking wake-up call for many all over the globe. Circumstances were more than eloquent – bullets hit Nemtsov right in front of Kremlin and merely one day before the planned protest march. […]
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is interested in the continuity of the Ukrainian war as it helps to disguise his country’s internal problems and avoid the West’s criticism for non-democratic processes, says Anatoly Lyabedzko, one of the Belarusian opposition leaders. […]
Lithuania has praised Belarus, saying its position on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is “very positive” as well as Minsk’s decision not to join Moscow’s sanctions against EU member states. Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrius Krivas expressed the position after his visit to Minsk. […]
It is tempting to slip into a spiral of sensationalism when describing the concurrent trends in Belarus’s foreign relations and national aspirations, even though—if history is any guide—these trends may be reversed as abruptly as they started. So far, however, tensions have been on the rise along Belarus’s eastern flank; whereas, there has been steady improvement in Belarus’s relations with the West. According to the assessment of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, this has been the case since the very beginning of 2014. […]
Copyright © 2026 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes