Lithuania says it has not received official proposals from Belarus for possible meetings

Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated it has not received any formal proposals from Belarus regarding potential meetings at the vice-ministerial or other levels, LRT reports.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not received such a proposal from Belarus,” the ministry told the ELTA news agency this week.

Asta Skaisgirytė, chief advisor to President Gitanas Nausėda, told Žinių Radijas on Tuesday that Lithuania currently engages with Belarus only at a technical level. She added that higher-level discussions could only begin if Minsk demonstrates it has halted hybrid attacks against Lithuania.

“We communicate with Belarus at a very technical, institutional level. No intermediaries are needed—the necessary messages are being conveyed,” Skaisgirytė said. “For meaningful political dialogue, conditions and goodwill are required. Only then could we discuss substantive matters, but at present, we don’t see what we would even talk about—whether to remind Belarus that its territory was used by Russian forces to attack Ukraine, or that political prisoners remain imprisoned.”

She emphasised that dialogue would be difficult to imagine while hybrid attacks continue. “If there were a genuine desire for dialogue, these activities would need to stop first. Only then could talks begin. So far, we haven’t seen that.”

The comments follow a recent interview in which John Coale, the US special envoy to Belarus, urged Lithuania to restore ties with Minsk and suggested a bilateral meeting at the vice-ministerial level. Coale also proposed resuming the transit of Belarusian potash fertilisers through Lithuania, arguing it would “open Europe up to them, all the way to the United States.”

President Nausėda stated last week that dialogue with Belarus would only be possible if Minsk shows a real commitment to neighbourly relations and stops threatening Lithuania. Prime Minister Ingrida Ruginienė added that Lithuania would consider the US envoy’s proposal for vice-ministerial talks only if Belarus meets three conditions: halting smuggling drones across the border, returning all detained Lithuanian trucks without additional fees or penalties, and preventing illegal migrant crossings.