Lithuania dose not consider Belarus political threat, official says :: Charter'97 :: News

The Lithuanian government does not consider Belarus a political threat, but its values are different from those of the Belarusian authorities, Laimonas Talat-Kelpsa, a departmental head with the Lithuanian foreign ministry, said at a workshop held in Minsk on September 16.

The workshop on Lithuania`s foreign-policy priorities was organized by the Lithuanian embassy for students, university lecturers, public figures and journalists.

Mr. Talat-Kelpsa, director of the Foreign Policy Analysis and Planning Department, noted that Lithuania is not indifferent to the external and internal problems of neighboring Belarus. Lithuania has always tried to place the Belarus issue on the agenda of the European Union and NATO, he stressed.

Algirdas Gricius, a former member of the Seimas (Lithuania`s parliament), expressed a skeptical attitude toward the Union State project of Belarus and Russia, which he said may lead to Belarus` full economic dependence on Russia. The country`s external economic policy should be more diversified and not directly depend on Russia, Dr. Gricius said.