Paulauskas maintains hope for Belarus

Aug 31, 2005
By TBT staff

VILNIUS 's Hoping to promote democracy in Belarus, Parliamentary Speaker Arturas Paulauskas expressed the importance of tightening relations with the country.

In an interview with the Ziniu Radijas radio on Aug. 31, Paulauskas said that parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Justinas Karosas' idea for a "policy of balance" with Minsk could be "partially" approved.

During the 14th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference on Aug. 29, Karosas asked the European Union to delegate Lithuania with the task of establishing contacts with Minsk, as the "policy of isolation" had failed.

"I think that the ideas expressed by him should be partially approved, and various forms of promoting the democratic processes should be tried," Paulauskas told the Baltic News Service, adding that a compromise with Belarus could not be ruled out.

Whatever the development leads to, Lithuania would not ignore human rights violations in Belarus, Paulauskas said.

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