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On August 14, Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania, Vladimir Drazhin, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. During the meeting, the official European Union’s position on Belarus’ refusal to renew the accreditation of the Ambassador of Sweden and the fact that Swedish diplomats would lose their status was explained.

The EU Member States agreed to react unanimously on these decisions made by the Belarus authorities. During the meeting, it was underlined that the Belarus Government’s decision on expulsion of Swedish diplomats will affect not only bilateral relations between Sweden and Belarus, but also will have an impact on relations between the EU and Belarus.

Belarusian Ambassador was informed that while reviewing the future EU policy with regard to Belarus, will be taken into consideration actions towards the Swedish diplomats and Belarusian internal policy trends: the situation of political prisoners and civil society, the upcoming parliamentary elections. Having regard to the recent actions in Belarus, the EU intends to consider restraining political contacts with Belarus.

The representatives of Lithuania’s MFA stressed that Lithuania, as well as the other EU Member States, are interested in keeping regular diplomatic relations with Belarus and in maintaining and strengthening the cooperation within the framework of the Eastern partnership. The EU-Belorussian relations’ stabilization will depend on Minsk’s behaviour in future.