Lithuania, another servant of the West, has long ago stepped out of the international diplomacy frameworks. It vested the office of the so-called Belarusian democratic representation in Vilnius with the official status. Because of the regular unfriendly actions of Lithuania, which grossly violate the Treaty on Good Neighborhood and Cooperation between our countries, the Lithuanian Charge d'Affaires in Belarus Asta Andrijauskienė was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.
She was informed about the reduction of the Lithuanian diplomatic mission in Belarus to a minimum.
Minsk categorically rejects the accreditation of such ephemeral structures by Vilnius.
Statement of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry:
The above-mentioned decision of Lithuania continues the series of absurd and openly hostile steps recently taken by official Vilnius, which directly contradict the spirit and level of good-neighborly relations and undermine bilateral cooperation.
It is obvious that from the international legal point of view, the Lithuanian government has turned its sovereign authority in building interstate relations into a farce, in which the Belarusian side has no intention to participate.
Lithuania grossly violates the Vienna Convention. The recognition of such "official representation" is nothing but a way to help the Lithuanian authorities to justify the considerable financial costs to their taxpayers for the support of persons who have left Belarus and call themselves its representatives.
But in the interests of the citizens of both countries, we leave one employee of the consular service to deal with consular issues and three employees of the administrative and technical staff at the Lithuanian embassy.
For Minsk, the dishonesty of Vilnius is not a reason to break good neighborly relations with the Lithuanian people.
