Lithuania will not seek rapprochement with Belarus until Minsk demonstrates goodwill, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said on Wednesday.
"We are not changing our position, and the government's stance is clear. We are ready [for dialogue], we simply want to see goodwill from the other side as well," Ruginienė told reporters.
Her comments follow an interview this week by Deividas Matulionis, the president's chief national security adviser, who suggested that establishing dialogue with Belarus at a lower political level is being considered.
The prime minister emphasised that any normalisation of ties with Minsk would not mean a return to friendly relations.
"We are not talking about restoring the kind of relations or dialogue that existed many years ago before the war," Ruginienė said. "We are talking about the possibility of normalising relations by exchanging certain technical details, as other countries do, but even that requires circumstances and conditions that the other side must fulfil."
According to her, Lithuania expects long-term solutions from Minsk regarding smuggling balloons, irregular migration, and lorries detained in Belarus.
"These seem like simple, everyday conditions, especially since they arose from Belarus' own actions. It seems to me that once they are implemented, we can certainly talk about a meeting to exchange information," the prime minister said.
President Gitanas Nausėda has also previously said that dialogue with Minsk would be possible if Belarus showed goodwill regarding irregular migration, smuggling balloons, and political prisoners.
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