Lithuania insists EU sanctions on Belarus remain unchanged despite US move

The United States’ decision to lift sanctions on two Belarusian banks, the Finance Ministry, and the state-owned potash producer Belaruskali does not signal a shift in the European Union’s policy, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Thursday in Brussels.

“While the US may pursue its own policy toward Russia and Belarus, the EU’s stance is clear: both states bear responsibility for the war in Ukraine,” Nausėda told reporters. “The war continues in brutal forms, and sanctions remain in place—not as a mirror of US actions, but under a coordinated approach.”

He stressed that the EU recently extended its sanctions on Belarus for another 12 months, with “no political will” to reconsider them. “The US lifting sanctions is one path; the EU’s policy is another.”

Lithuanian lawmakers echoed the president’s position, with Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Remigijus Motuzas (Social Democrats) stating that each country sets its own foreign policy goals. “We cannot assess the US decision without knowing its exact objectives,” he said, adding that Lithuania would maintain its firm stance on Minsk.

Conservative MP Žygimantas Pavilionis dismissed speculation about US pressure on Vilnius to revise sanctions, calling the move a “bilateral US-Belarus track.” He accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of playing a “double game” between Washington and Moscow, suggesting Minsk’s overtures to the West may be insincere.