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On 23 May, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius emphasized the need to make maximum effort to ensure nuclear and radiation safety of the nuclear projects that are being developed in neighbouring countries and full compliance with international environmental regulations.

Representatives of Lithuanian institutions discussed issues related to safety of the nuclear projects that are implemented at the Lithuanian state borders in Russia’s Kaliningrad region and Belarus.

At the meeting, Linkevičius called for continued effort to protect the interest of safe environment of the state of Lithuania and its people. According to the Foreign Minister, no compromises should be made to the disadvantage of nuclear safety.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that Russia and Belarus have not concluded the environmental impact assessment procedure in accordance with the UN Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context. Nevertheless, the construction works of both nuclear power plants are going on intensively, which is a significant breach of the Espoo Convention.

After considerations by the Espoo Convention’s Implementation Committee for nearly two years, the Committee issued a report on 15 April 2013, finding that Belarus was not in compliance with the requirements of the Espoo Convention. The Committee requested Belarus to provide detailed answers to all the questions raised by Lithuania and to take into account comments of the Lithuanian experts, as well as to ensure that the Lithuanian public is provided with possibilities for making comments on the construction of this nuclear power plant.