MFA EXPRESSES A STRONG PROTEST WITH REGARD TO THE NON-ADMISSION OF A LITHUANIAN JOURNALIST TO BELARUS
On 24 August, as designated by the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis, Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania Vladimir Drazhin was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the incident at the border, when journalist of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television Rūta Lankininkaitė-Ribačiauskienė was not admitted to Belarus.
Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius met with the Ambassador and expressed a strong protest with regard to the cancellation of the visa that was issued to the journalist and to declaring her ‘persona non grata’ in Belarus.Rūta Lankininkaitė-Ribačiauskienė has a long-time professional experience in Belarus and has been accredited by the Belarussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the past years. Her current accreditation expires on 28 February 2012.
The Ambassador was informed that Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accredited 42 Belarusian journalists in 2010-2011. Another nine accreditation applications of media representatives from the neighbouring country are currently being processed.
Accredited by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry journalists can get annual multiple-entry Schengen visas. A large number of non-accredited Belarusian media representatives freely come to Lithuania for the reporting.
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