Lithuania proposes withdrawal of 2010 border agreement with Belarus
Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed denouncing a 2010 intergovernmental agreement with Belarus regulating travel for border residents.
The ministry submitted a draft government resolution calling on the president to ask parliament to withdraw the agreement. According to the draft presidential decree, the foreign minister, Kęstutis Budrys, would present the proposal to the Seimas, or in his absence, the deputy foreign minister, Audra Plepytė.
The agreement was signed in Minsk in 2010 by then Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and by their respective foreign ministers, Audronius Ažubalis and Sergei Martynov. It allowed certain groups of border residents to cross the state border without visas and stay in the other country’s 50-kilometre border zone for up to 90 days within six months, using special local traffic permits. Permits were to be issued for up to five years to permanent residents of border areas planning visits due to family ties, economic, trade, cultural or other important reasons, but would not grant work rights.
The Seimas ratified the agreement in 2011, but it never entered into force because Belarus did not complete its internal procedures required for implementation.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers that, given the agreement has not entered into force and more than 15 years have passed since its signing, it is no longer relevant to either side, and therefore it is appropriate to denounce it,” the ministry said in a statement. “Denouncing the agreement aligns with Lithuania’s consistent foreign policy and national security interests, as well as the provisions of the government programme.”
Currently, Belarusian citizens face national sanctions in Lithuania, including stricter rules for granting permanent and temporary residence permits, visa issuance and electronic residency status. The first set of national sanctions against Belarusian citizens was adopted in spring 2023.