Lithuanian opposition leader criticises lawmakers’ meeting with US envoy to Belarus

Lithuanian conservative opposition leader Ingrida Šimonytė has condemned a meeting between three lawmakers and US special envoy to Belarus John Coale, calling it “regrettable” and questioning its purpose, LRT reports.

Šimonytė, a senior figure in the opposition Homeland Union party, told the ELTA news agency she was unaware of who initiated the meeting or its objectives. “I don’t know whose initiative it was or what great goal it served. Perhaps it was just a highly valued effort by Mr Gražulis and Mr Vėgėlė to secure a Nobel Peace Prize for the US president,” she said sarcastically.

The meeting, held in Vilnius on Tuesday, included Seimas members Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimantas Jonas Jankūnas, as well as MEP Petras Gražulis. All three confirmed their participation, which took place at the Kempinski Hotel.

Šimonytė criticised the encounter as amateurish political posturing. “The impression is that people have discovered foreign policy and decided to try their hand at it—see what comes of it and what photos they can take,” she said. “It’s regrettable, and such actions are observed internationally.”

She warned that inconsistent behaviour—such as cooperating with political opponents one day and shunning them the next, or flip-flopping on issues like opening a Taiwanese representative office—undermines Lithuania’s credibility. “When we argue domestically over fuel prices or school networks, that’s one thing. But when we start playing games with foreign policy—meeting with adversaries we’ve taken to court one day, then not the next—it all looks like chaos,” she said.

Coale, the US envoy, announced in December that Washington would lift sanctions on Belarusian potash exports, though discussions on broader sanctions policy remain ongoing. The US first imposed restrictions on Belarusian fertiliser exports in 2021, following the disputed re-election of Alexander Lukashenko, while the EU followed with its own sanctions in 2022. Lithuania’s state railway company terminated its transit contract with Belaruskali that year, citing national security risks.