Lithuania's parliament has begun the process of formally scrapping a 2010 agreement with Belarus on border zone travel that was never implemented, in a move the Foreign Ministry says aligns with the country's national security interests.
The agreement, signed in Minsk in 2010 and ratified by Lithuania a year later, was designed to allow residents of border regions to cross using special permits and remain in the neighbouring country's border zone for up to 90 days within any six-month period.
It never came into force because Belarus failed to ratify it or notify Lithuania of its intention to do so.
"The Belarusian authorities failed to ratify and notify Lithuania even back then. Today, we certainly see no possibility for this agreement to continue or function," Deputy Foreign Minister Vidmantas Verbickas told lawmakers when presenting the proposal.
Arminas Lydeka, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, said agreements of this kind with Alexander Lukashenko's regime were incompatible with the current situation and the hybrid attacks Belarus was conducting against Lithuania.
The proposal passed its first reading with 86 votes in favour and no opposition. It will now go to the Committee on Foreign Affairs before returning to the plenary session in late June.
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