Lithuania rules out dialogue with Belarus as long as hybrid attacks continue

Lithuania sees no basis for dialogue with Belarus while Minsk continues its hybrid aggression, presidential adviser Asta Skaisgirytė told Žinių Radijas on Tuesday, as reported by public broadcaster LRT.

“It would be hard to imagine that [Belarus] wants dialogue if these hybrid attacks keep happening,” Skaisgirytė said. “If there were a genuine desire for dialogue, the first step would be to halt these actions. So far, we haven’t seen that.”

She stressed that meaningful talks require goodwill and conditions that Lithuania currently does not see. “We can discuss dialogue when there’s something to talk about. While these actions persist, Lithuania remains in a defensive position—there’s nothing to discuss. These activities must simply stop.”

The comments follow a recent interview in which US envoy to Belarus John Coale urged Lithuania to engage in direct talks with Minsk at the vice-ministerial level. Skaisgirytė noted that these calls were unofficial and not made at a high level, adding that while the US advocates dialogue without preconditions, Lithuania’s history with Belarus makes that approach difficult.

“Those requests weren’t official or high-level,” she said. “Yes, US negotiators say it’s better to talk without preconditions. Maybe that’s possible for some. In our case, it’s complicated because we have our own relationship history. Talking without any preconditions doesn’t really work for us.”

Skaisgirytė confirmed that technical-level communication with Minsk continues, but political dialogue remains off the table for now. “For meaningful political dialogue, we need conditions, we need goodwill—then we could talk if there were something to discuss. Today, we don’t see what that would be.”

She questioned what Lithuania could even raise in such talks, asking rhetorically: “Would we remind Belarus that it provided its territory for Russian forces to attack Ukraine? That political prisoners remain in its jails?”

The remarks come amid ongoing hybrid threats from Belarus, including a record 34 illegal migrant pushback attempts in a single day this week and repeated disruptions to Vilnius Airport operations. Lithuania has set three key conditions for any engagement with Minsk: an end to smuggling via drones, the unconditional return of detained Lithuanian truckers, and a halt to illegal migrant flows.

Prime Minister Ingrida Ruginienė previously stated that Lithuania would consider the US proposal for vice-ministerial talks only if Belarus met Vilnius’s demands. President Gitanas Nausėda has likewise insisted that dialogue is possible only if Belarus demonstrates a real commitment to neighborly relations and stops threatening Lithuania.