Lithuania remains one of the harshest critics of the Alexander Lukashenka regime. It was this country that was the first to reject the falsified results presidential elections On Belarus. Together with Latvia and Estonia, it has imposed travel restrictions on 30 Belarusian officials, including Lukashenka.
On Thursday, the Lithuanian Seym, opening the autumn session of its meetings, adopted a resolution entitled “About the illegal and imposed relationship with Russia”. During the vote, the deputies agreed that the Russian Federation had no right to interfere in internal affairs of Belarus and to exert influence on its foreign policy.
The resolution was initiated by the conservative Žygimantas Pavilionis, who emphasized that the situation in Belarus was not improving. – Violence is spreading, blood is spilling, no dialogue is possible. Lukashenka finishes negotiations with Russia on a union agreement, after which he sells the country. We cannot allow it, he said.
The resolution adopted by the Sejm states that “any international agreements that will limit Belarus’s sovereignty are invalid, constitute a crime against the Belarusian people and cannot be recognized by the international community as they constitute the actual annexation of the country.”
President of EAPL: Such resolutions create tensions
All the deputies present in the chamber, 91 people, voted in favor of the document. Nobody abstained and was not against. Only the representatives of the eight-person faction of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – the Union of Christian Families (EAPL-CFA), which they co-create with the Russian Alliance, were absent from the parliamentary boards.
– Such resolutions do not affect good relations with neighbors, but create tension. Our party’s priorities include good relations with everyone: with Latvians, Poles, but also with Russia and Belarus. Neighbors are not chosen, they are given by God, so we must coexist, especially in the 21st century. Such resolutions worsen relations and increase tensions – Waldemar Tomaszewski, the president of AWPL-ZChR, told the ELTA agency. He added that the document adopted today is part of the conservative election campaign.
“Tomaszewski fights for the votes of the Russians”
The attitude of the deputies of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania was criticized by Rimvydas Valatka, one of the leading journalists in Lithuania. According to him, such translations are simply out of place.
– I don’t understand why he justifies himself. What do conservatives have to do with it? The resolution was supported by the EAPL-CFA coalition partners, i.e. the Union of Green Peasants and the Social Democratic Labor Party, he says.
Valatka believes that Tomaszewski is trying to keep the voices of the local Russians by using pro-Russian rhetoric. – The Polish minority in Lithuania would not guarantee that it would exceed 5 percent. election threshold. In 30 years, a generation has changed and most Poles simply do not vote for it. And Tomaszewski is afraid to admit that he is not the president of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, but of the Electoral Action of the Russians. It is difficult, he is a Pole, a Catholic. Admitting it would mean abandoning politics, he explains.
The columnist is echoed by Marius Laurynavcius from the Institute of Political Analysis in Vilnius.
– The media in Poland, writing about the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, quite often mislead readers. It would be reasonable to call this party simply Kremlin, then there would be no understatement. We can clearly see that today Moscow is doing everything to ensure that Lukashenka retains his position, and this party has repeatedly proved that it has pro-Kremlin interests, says Laurynavcius.
– Currently on the election list at number two is Ms Irina Rozowa, who was accused of having ties with Russian intelligence [pół roku temu Departament Bezpieczeństwa Państwa poinformował, że miała omawiać z rosyjskimi dyplomatami m.in. kwestie finansowania Aliansu Rosjan czy utworzenia wspólnego z partią Tomaszewskiego tworu politycznego reprezentującego mniejszości narodowe]. She was not prosecuted, thanks to the efforts of the president of AWPL-ZChR – he adds.
“Polish community in a dead end”
Political scientist Andrzej Pukszto, head of the department of political science at the Witold the Great University in Kaunas, points out that today’s absence of politicians from the EAPL-ZChR faction in the Seym casts a huge shadow on Poles living in Lithuania.
– From this behavior it can be concluded that local Poles do not support democratic changes in Belarus and form the fifth column in Lithuania. And it is at this moment when the Lithuanian government, which this party is co-creating, is working hand in hand with the government of the Republic of Poland, and the entire democratic community of the European Union is on the side of democratic changes in Belarus. Unfortunately, the Polish community in Lithuania has found itself in a completely dead end – he sums up.
Parliamentary elections in Lithuania will be held on October 11.
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