Grybauskaite Called a Decade of Belarus' Isolation a Disaster

Lithuanian President Grybauskaite rejected criticism of her predecessor Valdas Adamkus, who had criticized the incumbent president of Lithuania for the policy towards Belarus. According to Dali Grybauskaite, catastrophe is that not a sign of friendship has been shown to Belarus and its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, called the last dictator in Europe, but they have instead turned their backs for ten years.

«The president does not evaluate or comments on the opinions, expressed by certain politicians in press. She believes that a ten-year isolation of Belarus was the catastrophe and the mistake. The steps of the current president are the first contact, attached to the fact that there are at least some small steps toward democracy,» the President’s press secretary Lynas Balsys said after the meeting with the president and the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Audronius Azubalis, DELFI.

In turn, the Lithuanian foreign minister Azubalis expressed doubts if one could describe the current policy of Lithuania with such harsh words, voiced by former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus. «Is our continued assistance and successful engagement of donors of the European Humanities University worthy of such words? Is our continued support of the opposition worthy of such words? Are our 40 short and 4 long-term observers in Belarus worthy of these words? I don’t know. Attempts to find contacts and to intensify the dialogue with official Minsk — that’s the general opinion of the EU,» the Lithuanian Minister said.

As Telegraf previously reported, former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus considers Lithuania’s foreign policy towards Belarus a disaster. «I think we’ve, no doubt, overdone, willing to please the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. We’ve just become a laughingstock,» Valdas Adamkus said.

According to the politician, the leadership of Lithuania «has been undermining confidence in the region with its own hands» for the last a year and a half. «It is not clear both, what our country is seeking for and what its general foreign policy is,» the former president of Lithuania said.