On 17 September, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Dalius Čekuolis took part in a videoconference of the “Lublin Triangle” coordinators. The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Marcin Przydacz also attended the meeting.

On 4 September, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Dalius Čekuolis met with the new Ambassador of Estonia to Lithuania Kai Kaarelson. The Ambassador presented her letters of credence to the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda on the same day.

On 4 September, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Dalius Čekuolis met with the new Ambassador of Norway Ole Terje Horpestad, who presented his letters of credence to the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda on the same day.

On 4 September, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Dalius Čekuolis met with the new Ambassador of Finland Arja Inkeri Makkonen, who presented her letters of credence to the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda on the same day.

Taking into account the countries and regions of importance for Lithuania’s tourism business, the travel advice has been updated for those planning group travel on direct charter flights to Tunisia, the Portuguese regions of Madeira and the Azores.

Europe must send a clear signal to the Kremlin that interference in Belarus will have consequences.

By Linas Linkevičius, Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs.

The crisis in Belarus goes far beyond the violent aftermath of its presidential election in August.

For decades, under Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorship, the country has witnessed successive waves of repression. With an opposition too weak and divided to overcome to the regime, Lukashenko has had free reign to exert massive control on Belarusian society, while flirting with both Russia and the West.

And for decades, the European Union has been extremely patient, taking the smallest change in Belarus for a sign of progress.

It’s clear now, however, that we’ve reached a tipping point. If the EU wants to be a powerful player on the world stage and in its immediate Eastern neighborhood, it urgently needs a new approach to the region, and to Belarus in particular. Words of condemnation and regret, and the other usual buzzwords, are no longer enough.

In recent years, we saw some positive shifts in Belarus’ foreign policy. Dialogue with the EU became more constructive and relations with the U.S. have been restored. On my last visit to Belarus, Vladimir Makei, the country’s foreign minister, made a speech in Belarusian at a public event — something that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago.

Belarus’ ossified power structure, however, failed to recognize these important signs of liberalization and reawakening. The Belarusian people’s reaction to the August election showed their patience has come to an end.

It has also become clear that Lukashenko has never been interested in modernizing the country, or in real independence for Belarus: All he wants is to stay in power.

On 2 September, consultations took place between the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Neris Germanas and Raivo Küüt, Undersecretary of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, as well as diaspora policy planners from both countries.

On August 24, Evaldas Galvanauskas, representative of Lithuanian Embassy in Armenia, participated at the ceremony of installation of plastic and paper recycling bins in Armavir schools.

On the 20^th-23^rd of August events to commemorate Black Ribbon Day and the 31^st anniversary of the Baltic Way were organized in different cities of Canada.