The United States’ decision to lift sanctions on Belarus’s state airline Belavia will be a major test of the backbone of the European Union’s sanctions policy, Lithuania’s foreign minister-designate Kestutis Budrys has said.
“This does not mean that the EU will immediately follow suit once the US has made such a decision. It will be a major test of the backbone of the EU’s sanctions policy. It seems to me, we will need to pass this test, and Lithuania will certainly contribute to ensuring that we do,” Budrys told LRT on September 11.
Budrys stressed that Lithuania would continue to back sanctions within the EU, which he argued had proved the most effective means of pursuing key goals, such as the release of political prisoners in Belarus.
“The EU, with Lithuania’s strong voice, will continue its sanctions policy because we believe that these tools are more effective in achieving our goals,” he assured.
He added that while the US and Lithuania ultimately shared the same objectives – to have political prisoners released – the tools they used were not always the same.
“The EU has its own sanctions policy, and Lithuania has also adopted its own national restrictive measures. It is good when everything coincides, but it does not always do so, and then we see differences,” he said.
Budrys also rejected any suggestion that sanctions should be traded in return for the release of individuals.
“I would like to emphasize that we will definitely not give in to the trend of exchanging sanctions for people, as some would like. We support the goal, but we know from experience that these measures can lose their effectiveness very quickly,” Budrys stressed. (LRT)