Lithuania's FM confirms receipt of Belarusian note requesting political consultations

VILNIUS – Lithuania's Foreign Ministry has confirmed receipt of a diplomatic note from Belarus requesting political consultations.

"The only demand that Belarus has made to Lithuania is to hold political consultations. It was received in the form of a diplomatic note last Friday," Kristina Belikova, an advisor to Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, told BNS on Wednesday.

Earlier, Budrys said that Belarus was seeking to open a channel of communication "at the level of political representatives."

"This means not a technical solution, but diplomatic negotiations," he explained.

According to the minister, Belarus presented this position after the Foreign Ministry protested to Belarus about discriminatory actions against Lithuanian carriers.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania firmly demanded that the Republic of Belarus immediately cease these discriminatory actions and warned that otherwise the Republic of Lithuania reserves the right to take appropriate legal actions, claim compensation for the damage caused, and take other countermeasures both at the national and European Union level," the Foreign Ministry said a statement released on Friday.

As reported by BNS, Lithuania closed its border with Belarus for a month because of the threat posed by smugglers' balloons, but decided to reopen it ten days earlier than planned, citing an improved situation. Operations at the Medininkai and Salcininkai border checkpoints resumed last Thursday.

In response to the closure, Minsk barred Lithuanian trucks in Belarus from returning home until the border reopened. Despite the two checkpoints resuming operations, the Minsk regime is still not allowing the trucks to return to Lithuania.

Lithuanian politicians maintain that the influx of smuggling balloons from Belarus is a hybrid attack by Minsk.

In October and November, these balloons disrupted operations at Vilnius and Kaunas Airports, affecting the plans of 36,000 passengers and causing 249 flights to be canceled or diverted to other airports.